"Fixing" Falcon/Jedi

I hope you fell for the clickbait title.

One of the deck archetypes I've had the most trouble with in the past is Falcon/Jedi. The concept is simple enough since you're combining two of the best pods LS has to offer, but I've always ran into issues.

The first big issue I've run into is that the Falcon is a very expensive pod and running it as a x2 really increases the cost curve of your deck which requires that you have a good amount of money to spend. Any deck that I have with double Falcon mandates that I have more than 6 resource enhancements so I can find one T1 and keep pumping them out in the early game.

It also doesn't help that I'm very hypercritical of the resource curve for LS. I'm not a fan of the Guest Quarters at all. In an increasingly oppressive DS meta, I absolutely need to build a board fast and a T1 Guest Quarters will not allow me to play the precious Falcon T2. The same goes with tempo killing 2/1's although those are arguably even worse because I won't be able to play a 4-cost main T1.

The other big problem I've ran into was poor objective flops. Previous iterations of the Falcon/Jedi generally consisted of x2 Falcon/MTF, x1 Gamor and a hodgepodge selection of Jedi objectives. Unfortunately, I tended to get into situations where the only Jedi objective I wanted to see was MTF but I needed two Jedi objectives on the flop to prevent resource locking. Is this a product of bad deckbuilding? Probably, but one thing you'll notice even in this deck is that the Smuggler objectives have much higher priority than Jedi.

The new Jedi-into-Smuggler affiliation card solves both of these problems. In terms of objective flops, I'm now in a position where I only want to see one Jedi objective (which is MTF obviously, but in the occasion I don't flop it A New Beginning isn't bad) and two Smuggler objectives. Running Jedi affiliation also allows for the inclusion of a pod like Watchers which I would have never ran in a previous version of this archetype since it's a dud objective. This affiliation also allows access to some other interesting pods (more on that later).

The biggest remedy though is having access to 5 resources T1. I've built this deck to basically have a variety of great starts that are adaptable to a ton of different situations. In terms of resource enhancements, I can play a 4-drop and a Guest Quarters and still have 5 resources the following turn to drop the Falcon. It isn't ideal, but I can drop Jyn's resource and a 4-drop T1 for some delayed gratification. If I'm facing down DLOTS, I could drop a 3+2 drop or a 4+1 drop so my main doesn't get locked out. If I'm in a situation where I mulligan into only a Falcon or Obi as playable unit I'm completely screwed either.

Other than that, the deck is relatively standard in terms of what you would expect from something competitive; tons of aggressive mains, good amount of resources, high edge and two Twists. Just get your mains out and go to town. Also, Jyn's pod is so nasty. It's everything I wanted Zeb to be in previous iterations of the deck. You may not be using her text to double-strike, but I'm never going to complain about free card draw and her icon spread is still killer.

The big downside I can see with this deck are non-ideal objective flops. I've yet to test extensively with a 5/5 split but I'm hoping that probability will consistently deliver and I'll draw into 2 Jedi and 2 Smuggler objectives. In the occasion I draw into 3 Jedi and 1 Smuggler I hope that MTF will be the DS player's first target and I can draw one of my 3 resource enhancements that can provide a Smuggler match. I imagine you won't be playing 2 cards of the same affiliation until mid-to-late game when you have your resources out. This same problem can also occur with Jedi if you end up overlocking your affiliation card.

So if I did have to change anything in the deck it would be to take out both Ahsokas. Her pod really doesn't seem to get much love around here but I included her for a variety of reasons; she's a powerful main with card draw that I can commit to the force, her pod overall has high edge (which is compounded with all of the other edge bonuses this deck offers) and honestly it just seems like a cool idea. I'm also a big fan of her chud; you won't be killing anything with it but it can soak up DLOTS and it can help you win clutch edge battles. I don't consider it to be a 1-unit pod at all and even if I did, all of the other units in the deck aren't duds.

There's a bunch of options for replacing Ahsoka, the most conservative of which would probably be to run x1 of Core and Endor Luke. They obviously feed off each other and I appreciate the extra resource that Core Luke provides. But, I don't ever want to commit either of them to the force.

The Crow is also an interesting option. Although you can't bounce him into play with the Falcon, he still has 4 bombs and provides both a super-resource and a board wipe while the other 3-unit pods can pick up the slack that comes from running what is essentially a 1-unit pod. A more streamlined option would also be Journey to Dagobah.

A couple of other interesting options include Kyle or T'ra Saa for more mains with high edge. One thing the deck does lack though is some form of shielding/protect which makes a case for SOY4 or Ties of Blood. Experiment at your own pace.

That's all I got. If you made it this far you're a real champ. I speculated a long time ago that this new affiliation card would exist and I've been mulling over this for ages. This is as close as I'm getting to "fixing" the issues I've had with Falcon/Jedi. Enjoy!