Coruscant's Folly

It's a Trap!

This is a really fun deck to play. Playing "Heart of the Empire" seems like such a bad idea. I like to play double HOTE as a trap. The idea is to set one of these objectives out in your initial flop. I'll come back to how you play this deck if HOTE does not come out. You want your opponent to fixate on this objective, hoping to win easy. What other objectives do you put out along with HOTE? Well, why not double the fun? The more resources you start with the better. This applies to Scouring the Empire and The Executor Arrives. Maxing out on resources is a great idea if you want to play the high cost event cards and units in this deck. Encounter at Stygeon Prime is a good selection. If they ignore it to attack HOTE, they'll lose elite for the whole game. I'll talk more about Killing Cold in a moment.

Let's talk about how to keep HOTE alive. That is obviously the main idea. Your units can help keep HOTE going longer than it should. Both Coruscant Defense Fleets have the opportunity to both shield and protect HOTE. You want your opponent to invest a swing or two at HOTE before you deploy a CDF and add 5 more health to it. Be careful defending with a CDE. You don't want HOTE's protector to suffer a lot of unit damage. Ice Trompers are exceptional against character based LS decks. Sacrificing them removes big guns from the engagement, and HOTE cannot be reengaged except for very special shenanigans. This gives you another turn to spin the dial and build the board. The Executor is difficult to get out, but easier when you leave HOTE's 3 resources open for the opportunity. Sacrificing units with Executor on the table will ping away at the enemy, deflating their board state.

Your units can help keep HOTE going longer than it should. Both Coruscant Defense Fleets have the opportunity to both shield and protect HOTE. You want your opponent to invest a swing or two at HOTE before you deploy a CDF and add 5 more health to it. Be careful defending with a CDE. You don't want HOTE's protector to suffer a lot of unit damage. Ice Trompers are exceptional against character based LS decks. Sacrificing them removes big guns from the engagement, and HOTE cannot be reengaged except for very special shenanigans. This gives you another turn to spin the dial and build the board. The Executor is difficult to get out, but easier when you leave HOTE's 3 resources open for the opportunity. Sacrificing units with Executor on the table will ping away at the enemy, deflating their board state.

The other ways to protect HOTE involve 8 of your 10 events. Force storm lays waste to your opponent's spark hordes. Force Stasis tells Jedi, Spectors, Rebel Leaders, and Smugglers to stay home. When there is No Escape, save 4 resources to clear the board on your opponent's force phase. What about Aggression? Ah, Aggression! This is the ultimate in counteracting Solidarity of Spirit. When SoS flops and you drop in a free Jerec or Inquisitor to your opponant's Home One or Independence, you're ready to make your move. Play an ISB Liason and then aggression, nuking his big drop. Of course, aggression can also thin out the ranks in your favor on a more established board.

Enhancements also play a role in supporting your Trap. Fear will help negate Yoda and Luke. Sith holocrons will help get your big events / units out. Bones, however, will really make this trap snap with some teeth. Although you do not have a lot of blast in this deck, placing bones on either side of an already engaged HOTE makes your opponent's choices agonizing. He's trying to win with a big swing, having invested in this 10-health objective. Now bones comes out and starts laying out damage on all his objectives. God forbid two bones come out and start drowning him in damage. Will he have to save units back to engage one or two objectives he'd rather not?

Now let's combine Killing Cold with Bones. Suckering your opponent into placing damage on Killing Cold can result in a Desolation of Hoth bouncing a bunch of damage onto one of his mains. Or, with Executor out, sacking units to remove damage will spray his troops with killer frost.

What if HOTE does not come out on the flop? Your CDFs can still protect Scouring the Empire and your bones on Killing Cold can still work. It is not as fun, but it can still work.

Obviously this is no world-beater. But I'm interested in hearing other proposals for turning HOTE into the star of the show. I've thought about Using two HOTE with all the rest Imperial such as Entrenched Defense (to redirect the attack and to take damage of the CDFs), Death and Despayre for Defense Upgrade, and Enforced Loyalty for obvious damage-moving reasons. The whole notion is to get your opponent to care about HOTE, to begin attacking it and then discover that the 10 health goes to 26 (2 CDFs + 2 Def. Upgr.) plus damage bouncing. Hence, the fun.

What would your options be for HOTE?