117 replies to this topic

[yankeefan1355]

I think that trooper decks have a lot of options now with Fam Con.  There are a lot of different builds that look interesting and good. 

 

The Navy Vader set has always been such a dissapointing and hard one to use in any deck IMO.  It doesn't really synergize with anything.  One of the most annoying sets that I wish they had built better.  It could have been so much better if they made the objective a Hoth one and put in a BOH edge card instead and taken out one of those droids.  That would have kicked it up a notch or two in playability.  At least make the Navy Officer a bit more affordible than a 3 cost with 1 health in the same set with a 5 cost Vader and 2 cost droids, even with their ability.

[Caal]

From the top of my mind, without testing :

2 Killing Cold
2 Vader's Fist
1 Corpo
1 Sabotage
2 Executor
2 Family Connection

Or

2 All out Brawl
1 Corpo
2 Family
2 DTP
1 Sabotage
1 Imperial Command
1 Take them Prisonner

[Wrath87]

Navy Vader may get better if something happens with droids but that's about it. I really love vaders fist. Even just a 1 off is worth while in a trooper deck

[yankeefan1355]

For a Mono Navy Trooper deck I was thinking:

 

1x Sabotage in the Snow

2x Family Connections

2x Imperial Command

2x Take them Prisoner

2x Dark Trooper Project

1x A General's Imperative

 

Or maybe drop one of the sets and add in Tarkin instead.

[BobaFett]

yeah, i like General's imperative and all, and the synergy is clear with troopers, BUT i'm just not sure about it yet.  the at-st's are just ok, and the enhancement is horrid but the set still might find a place in my deck after i get through testing some of my initial ideas.

[mikado]

The trooper deck generally has problems with force and it can still be overwhelmed by LS cheap units like rebel vehicles. To counter that Vader's Fist is good because 501st troopers have EE blast icons and combined with Imperial Command's Orbital bombardment they really become counter-attack threat against LS objectives

 

Precision Fire + Tagge + Imperial Discipline (action, interrupt, reaction)  is a really powerful combo if you have troopers that can deal both blast and unit damage. Also, attacking with three troopers gives you maximum benefit from Imperial Discipline and Precision Fire for one attack.

 

Another thing you need is extra card draw... I think Counsel of Sith is one good option. General's imperative is also another good candidate!

[yankeefan1355]

Yeah, I haven't had a chance to test anything out yet.  Probably not until Tuesday.  I'm just tossing out ideas (and WH40K as well as the new Doomtown packs came out all on the same day)  NFL playoffs are also on this weekend today so it'll have to wait. 

 

Many months ahead for SW, only a few days for football. 

[BobaFett]

counsel of the sith does have a trooper and a twist which could be a boon for the deck

[TheEmpireBringsSexyBack]

yeah, i like General's imperative and all, and the synergy is clear with troopers, BUT i'm just not sure about it yet. the at-st's are just ok, and the enhancement is horrid but the set still might find a place in my deck after i get through testing some of my initial ideas.

tbf, the enhancement seems like a decent counter to the world champion trench run deck, or similar. On paper at least.

[yodaman]

Just played a game with the following.  Seemed to work okay, but my opponent didn't have the best draws with his Jedi deck.   I used Counsel for the Trooper and the Twist.

 

2 Counsel of the Sith

2 Second Phase

2 Dark Trooper Project

2 Imperial Command

2 Family Connections

 

Having the second phase Dark Trooper Legions and the Kuati Security Team gave the deck some troopers with built-in objective blast which was nice, since most other troopers just have unit damage and rely on things like Orbital Bombardment, Mohc or Forward Command Post to get the objective damage in.  The Dark Trooper Legions are certainly expensive, but the deck has a lot of resources (10 cards have resources on them, plus Imperial Command is a 2/5) so I was able to get a couple out pretty easily.

[BobaFett]

tbf, the enhancement seems like a decent counter to the world champion trench run deck, or similar. On paper at least.

it costs 3, you have to blow up an objective to activate it, and it kills all of your own enhancements.   This card is not good, and its EXTREMELY situational.   Also, One thing that people might have not realized is that while Mick used trench run to great effect, he often did enough damage to blow up 3 objectives without it because it came out later in the game after damage had been done to other objectives.  In other words, he would have likely won many (most) of those games regardless of trench run.  

 

Kind of went on a tangent there, but point being, I loathe turbo laser battery.  Costs too much, not enough edge icons, reaction makes no sense etc etc.   i like the set and i think its certainly worth discussing in a trooper setting, but the enhancement is one of the reasons not to run it, at least imo.

 

 

2 Counsel of the Sith

2 Second Phase

2 Dark Trooper Project

2 Imperial Command

2 Family Connections

 

I like the list except for the second phase.  The objective and force shield are largely wasted, and i still find the troopers to be a bit too costly.  I might try your deck minus second phase, and add in 2x vader's fist instead.

[Majestaat]

Turbolaser Battery is garbage and I will eat my shoes if it stops being garbage at any point through the game's lifespan.

Love Navy, love troopers, love The General's Imperative, but goat is that card bad. One more edge icon would have made it useful enough, but the world is harsh.

 

Second Phase is interesting, and I have tried playing 2x of those in a deck for the longest time because Dark Troopers are BOSS. But indeed, they're way too costly. One copy of the objective works nicely though, and can make up for troopers' usually weak lategame.

[yodaman]

I think this thread has provided some very interesting takes on things. 

 

 Maybe it would be worth trying something like taking out 1 Second Phase from the deck I played and putting in either 1 Vader's Fist or 1 Sabotage in the Snow.  Then there aren't as many Dark Trooper Legions.  Either might be good.

[yankeefan1355]

I totally forgot about 2nd Phase!  Man, now I have to rethink a lot about a Sith/Navy Trooper deck.  I don't think, I'd run 2x them but if you're running Vader's Fist it may work well to get out the high cost 501st unit.

 

Turbolaser Battery isn't that bad if you're running a cheaper Trooper Navy deck with  Take them Prisoner (or maybe adding in Neutral CO Exploit,) since you're not depending on enhancements to generate resources and you're depending on Officers or Characters with static abilities like Motti, Veers, Michal Cain, or Tarkin to generate the extra resources you need to field units and those Mains aren't being used in engagements as much.

 

I've been thinking of

 

2x Family Connections

1x Sabotage in the Snow

 

as the base of a Trooper build.

[sageleader]

I just played in a tourney and ran:

 

2x Vader's Fist

2x Family Connections

2x Imperial Command

2x Take Them Prisoner

1x Sabotage in the Snow

1x Counsel of the Sith

 

Of the 3 games with that deck, I lost 2 of them though one was close and the other I got a terrible draw. The resource match was never a problem (I ran Sith faction). My take on it is that it's really hard to hold the force as there are no elite units. When I got Motti out it helped because of his action. So I was often in a situation where I had to choose between having a unit committed to the force and double focused or properly defending.

 

Additionally, as someone mentioned there are no tricks up my sleeve whereas most LS factions do. There are also very few tactics to hold the board. So basically what was on the table was all I could do and the other player knew it. For the 501st pod I think it's a must because of the Legion. The 4 black unit damage is the only thing I could do to stop big units like Luke or Yoda. 

 

In sum I'm not sure what I'll switch out but I'll probably take out Counsel in favor of a larger unit or Corporate Exploitation.

[BobaFett]

I just played in a tourney and ran:

 

2x Vader's Fist

2x Family Connections

2x Imperial Command

2x Take Them Prisoner

1x Sabotage in the Snow

1x Counsel of the Sith

 

Of the 3 games with that deck, I lost 2 of them though one was close and the other I got a terrible draw. The resource match was never a problem (I ran Sith faction). My take on it is that it's really hard to hold the force as there are no elite units. When I got Motti out it helped because of his action. So I was often in a situation where I had to choose between having a unit committed to the force and double focused or properly defending.

 

Additionally, as someone mentioned there are no tricks up my sleeve whereas most LS factions do. There are also very few tactics to hold the board. So basically what was on the table was all I could do and the other player knew it. For the 501st pod I think it's a must because of the Legion. The 4 black unit damage is the only thing I could do to stop by big units like Luke or Yoda. 

 

In sum I'm not sure what I'll switch out but I'll probably take out Counsel in favor of a larger unit or of Corporate.

this is somewhat discouraging but not completely surprising either.  I was hoping family connections would be the keystone set for troopers but maybe we need a good support set along with it to add in some tricks into the trooper archtype.

[sageleader]

this is somewhat discouraging but not completely surprising either.  I was hoping family connections would be the keystone set for troopers but maybe we need a good support set along with it to add in some tricks into the trooper archtype.

 

Well I think the problem is that you can't play ONLY troopers. In order to hold the force I have to get out Motti, Tagge, or someone else. So ultimately the first hand or two I'm using resources on getting those guys out to hold the force, and then a few troopers come out. The other issue is that even with Family Connections, which is great, it doesn't actually stop people like Luke or Yoda. If I have two Stormtroopers and two of the 1 cost Troopers out, Luke/Yoda/Han/whoever still gets off their attack and blast even if they lose edge. You need the higher cost troopers like 501st Legion and the trooper vanguard with 3 black unit damage to do anything.

 

That being said this was the first 3 times I played this deck so maybe in practice it will get better. If you can get the enhancements out that give troopers extra unit damage it would help. 

[yankeefan1355]

I think we need a bigger sample size and a lot more time with a multitude of builds by different players in different metas before anyone can really have a good idea of what may be good or not.  There are still quite a few players that haven't received their copies of BtS yet, as well as many players that don't use online play to test decks. 

[pantsyg]

My playtest partner has a knack for building pretty off-the-wall stuff, and this was the trooper deck he ran against my Jedi variants today:

 

2x General's Imperative

2x Family Connections

2x Take Them Prisoner

1 Asteroid Pursuit

1 Sabotage in the Snow

1 Corporate Exploitation

1 Vast Resources

 

Looks pretty bad on paper, but each game, if he was able to get the Tagge/Imperial Discipline/Espo combo rolling, things went downhill fast.  The deck didn't win many edge battles, but it doesn't really have to.  It's a grinder, and it will eat your units regardless of edge unless you manage to put down a ton of tactics.  If Family Connections is out, even that strategy is tough.

 

Mass attacks with Imperial Discipline and Precision Fire whittle away your board and objectives, and it's hard to play around.  Veers is totally worth it; he makes this play so frustrating.

 

The events in Take Them Prisoner are pretty strong; I had Detained played on a new Luke I thought would be double-striking to kill and objective after tossing an enhancement, and that made me a sad panda.

 

Asteroid Pursuit seemed like a strange choice, but the cards work pretty well.  If you flip Prisoner, Lictor is activated; the other cards play very nicely with the trooper-shield synergy.

[yankeefan1355]

That's a really interesting deck pantsyg.  I'm wondering are Trooper decks more of a race deck now blowing up LS objectives or more of a good wall defense?  I can see builds that could work with both strategies.  I've been leaning towards the former. 

 

I'm also just tossing this idea out there... what about a Trooper/Tie Fighter Deck option?