No Disintegrations - Multiplayer Madness

Welcome one and all to another week of the insanity that is No Disintegrations. This week I wanted to touch on some of the broader aspects of the new 2v2 format which just recently had the rules released in preparation for Worlds. For those that may have missed it you can go HERE for the tournament rules and scroll down to page 6 or you can go HERE to see the complete rules set including deck building restrictions.

This new format seems like a very fun aspect to the game as it will allow for some more diverse decks and strategies to be used as you are at the most basic level constructing a 20 objective deck and breaking it apart. Some of the key points to remember when building decks for the new 2v2 format are:

• You can only have a single copy of “Limit 1 Per” objectives across both decks.
• You can only have up to 2 copies of any other objective set across both decks.
• Both decks need to play as stand alone decks, but work well together.

The first two points make perfect sense based on the rules, however the third point seems a bit odd as this is a multiplayer format so why should my deck have to stand alone? Because of how the attack/defend structure of 2v2 works you can only influence your partners board in minor ways, the same goes for who you are able to attack during your conflict phase. This means that your deck has to be able to stand on its own with only minor support from your partner during certain phases. This does not mean that there isn’t quite a bit that can be done when building your decks to lessen some of these limitations and constraints.

Can with Protect, Targeted Strike, Tactics Icons, or the phrase “each enemy X” are INSANELY powerful in the 2v2 format because they can be used to hinder any opponent or to aid your partner above and beyond the limitations built into 2v2 by FFG. The prime example of a powerful card that gets just that much better in the 2v2 format is Home One. It has the Reaction: After this unit is focused to strike as an attacker, deal 1 damage to each enemy objective not currently engaged. Instead of the usual 2 extra damage Home One can usually dish out, you can now be doing a massive 5 extra damage if it is able to strike. This raises the threat presented by Home One exponentially in 2v2 and makes it rather imperative to keep it alive. This can be easily done with the Protect keyword by your partner as they can use this to move damage over to their units when able and allow you to swing for the fences. With this in mind I decided to build up two LS Vehicle decks that would work well together and create a hyper aggressive set of decks.

LS Deck #1:
Affiliation:
Smugglers and Spies (Core)

Total Objective Sets: (10)

2x The Defense of Yavin 4 (Core)
Red Two (Core)
Y-Wing (Core)
Astromech Droid Upgrade (Core)
Hidden Outpost (Core)
Rebel Assault (Core)

2x Hoth Operations (The Desolation of Hoth)
Wedge Antilles (The Desolation of Hoth)
Rogue Three (The Desolation of Hoth)
Snowspeeder (The Desolation of Hoth)
Hoth Survival Gear (The Desolation of Hoth)
Target of Opportunity (The Desolation of Hoth)

2x Preparation for Battle (The Search For Skywalker)
Hoth Scout (The Search For Skywalker)
AAC-1 Speeder Tank (The Search For Skywalker)
AAC-1 Speeder Tank (The Search For Skywalker)
Tauntaun (The Search For Skywalker)
Shelter from the Storm (The Search For Skywalker)

2x Prepare for Evacuation (A Dark Time)
Renegade Squadron Escort (A Dark Time)
Renegade Squadron Escort (A Dark Time)
Action-series Bulk Transport (A Dark Time)
Ion Cannon Burst (A Dark Time)
Battle of Hoth (A Dark Time)

2x Attack Pattern Delta (The Battle of Hoth)
Rogue Leader (The Battle of Hoth)
Rogue Two (The Battle of Hoth)
Snowspeeder (The Battle of Hoth)
Snowspeeder Launch Bay (The Battle of Hoth)
Battle of Hoth (The Battle of Hoth)

LS Deck #2:
Affiliation:
Rebel Alliance (Core)

Total Objective Sets: (10)

2x The Rebel Fleet (Core)
Home One (Core)
Y-Wing (Core)
Repair Droid (Core)
Hidden Outpost (Core)
Target of Opportunity (Core)

2x Mobilize the Squadrons (Core)
X-Wing (Core)
Rookie Pilot (Core)
Trench Run (Core)
Rebel Assault (Core)
Covering Fire (Core)

2x Renegade Squadron Mobilization (The Search For Skywalker)
Renegade Squadron (The Search For Skywalker)
Renegade Squadron Operative (The Search For Skywalker)
Munitions Expert (The Search For Skywalker)
Echo Caverns (The Search For Skywalker)
Target of Opportunity (The Search For Skywalker)

2x Raise the Stakes (Edge of Darkness)
Blockade Runner (Edge of Darkness)
Cloud City Operative (Edge of Darkness)
Bothan Spy (Edge of Darkness)
Smuggling Compartment (Edge of Darkness)
Swindled (Edge of Darkness)

2x Across the Anoat Sector (Edge of Darkness)
Sleuth Scout (Edge of Darkness)
Sleuth Scout (Edge of Darkness)
Undercover Operative (Edge of Darkness)
Smuggler's Run (Edge of Darkness)
Over My Dead Body (Edge of Darkness)

The goal when putting these two decks together was to put the most amount of pressure on your opponent’s as possible and to keep that pressure on consistently. A Hoth speeder deck is able to do this rather effectively because you can choose which opponent to compare the number of controlled Hoth objectives against, which should assure you of having all your objectives active a majority of the time. Add to that the ability to run Protectors, Echo Caverns, Home One, and 4 copies of Rebel Assault across both decks and you can quickly see the amount of damage that can be dished out. With your attacks you also can stack your speeders to win easy edge battles with an active Hoth Operations out and your partner can assist your attack with Home One to assure getting that first strike in and dealing the maximum amount of damage possible. There are so many neat interactions such as this across the entire spread of 2v2 decks that we have yet to do more than just scratch the surface of what is possible. In these last few weeks leading up to Worlds I hope to explore the unexplored territory of 2v2 even more as there is so much to learn about this exciting new format.

Thanks again for checking in for No Disintegrations this week. Hopefully everyone enjoyed this quick overview of some of the 2v2 ideas I have had brewing in my head. Check back next time where I will be going over my ideas for Dark Side 2v2 decks. If you have a deck you would like to have featured in an upcoming No Disintegrations article please feel free to post it below or PM me. As always without each and every one of the valued members here at CardgameDB.com I would be writing to no one so I thank you for your time and may the top deck always be with you!