DS 7-Reserve Passion Project

Something I've been working on for the whole cycle.

Aside from Fighters, I've had a lot of trouble trying to make a 7-reserve DS deck that could've stood up to the Jedi/Rebel decks that were floating around prior to the latest FAQ. I attribute this to the fact that a lot of the big Navy pods don't have synergy outside of mono decks. One thing I've really noticed in the decks that I've built in the past year or so is that the best ones have a gameplan; it's one thing to just throw a bunch of good pods together and it's another thing entirely to make those pods gel with one another efficiently. Luckily, the final cycle of this game has provided me with two pods that give the deck a passable amount of synergy and those two pods are Patrolling the Wastes and Capital Support.

Starting on the Scum side of things, I think Patrolling is an excellent support pod but it's a weird set that's pulling for both characters and vehicles (and these are two traits that don't particularly mix). That being said, every card has a purpose here. The two "mains" may be overcosted, but there's gobs of vehicles for Klaatu to repair and Barada enjoys the shields that the DP-20 and Headhunter can provide. Because both of those units (and the ones in IDLYE) are unique, I never have to worry about triggering Prince's Scheme. I rarely play the Cargo Skiff due to the offensive nature of this deck (more on that later) but I do have high-value Merc targets that it can protect. The shielding that this pod provides is also invaluable considering the lack of Twists; I need a way to protect against Seeds and both the fate card and enhancement (which is fantastic on Gladiators, by the way) are a huge help.

Capital Support is a pod that hasn't really gotten much love (mostly because Corruptor and Bombing Run are rather mediocre) but the thing that drew me to the set is that it has a ton of cheap bombs. I've tooled this deck for maximum offense; I have eight 2-drop units with 2 bombs. When you combine this with a ton of money (10 resources and four 2-resource objectives) and other low-cost/high value units you have a deck that ramp pretty hard. The objective is also fantastic and is relatively easy to trigger with the number of Fighters and Capital Ships in this deck. When you combine this with Patrolling, I have multiple objectives that allow me to be aggressive and still keep the Force with DS.

The other massive benefit of this deck is that it wins a majority of its edge battles. Between 7-reserve, 100 pips, 6 units with Edge-1 and two easy-to-trigger Prince's Schemes, you'll probably strike first in key engagements.

That being said, the deck does have some issues. 10 money is definitely a few too many and I've had a few late-game scenarios where 0-pippers are clogging my hand. The lack of Twists definitely hurt as well; I think the options for them in this style of deck are really poor and that's a huge downfall (albeit one I've tried to remedy). I think the biggest issue though is a lack of removal. I'm not particularly comfortable racing LS and I think the best thing to compliment aggression is beating down your opponent's board as you do it (which is why I love Force Hunters so much). There are removal options with He Doesn't Like You and the Interdictor but those aren't enough to be consistent. While this deck is capable of defending, I really want to put my foot on the pedal when I play it and I try to overlock key LS units (which is easier said than done nowadays due to the refresh affiliation).

I don't claim that this is a tier-1 deck; it wins too often by the skin of its teeth for me to call it that, but it's definitely my best attempt at bridging two factions that I don't think work particularly well together. If this deck isn't your forte, I can definitely say that there's a strong base with Masterful/Patrolling/Might/Entrapment that's worth exploring in the future and can be easily customized to fit whatever style of play you want.

Thanks for reading!