Plo/Jedha/Engineer: RainPlo "Dash" (15th OH regional)

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Plo Koon, Rocket Scientist - Budget Friendly 15 10 0 1.0
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Ninguno todavía.

Caleb723 41

Here's a novel on a lineup that absolutely does not merit this level of scrutiny...

(It's called RainPlo Dash because it's a "fast" rainbow deck and too many of my friends have younger daughters familiar with MLP. I have been unable to change their minds even if there are cooler names that I am currently unable to create.)

I took this to the regional on December 8, 2018, at Epic Loot in Springfield, Ohio and squeaked through with a 15th place out of 47, going 4-3 in 7 rounds of Swiss. Overall, it was a superbly handled day, with food and raffles provided for entry and a welcoming, engaging staff. I got to know some great new people and hope to continue to see all of them doing well in the future!

In case you want MORE reading, here's my matchup report to save space in this already huge waste of text: https://pastebin.com/H3FbQCvT

Round 1: Nick Vader/Greedo W

Round 2: Jacob Vader/Jawa+Retribution L

Round 3: Alex (a good friend and a solid training partner!) Snoke/DJ L

Round 4: (I think it was Bradley? I am so sorry; I stopped writing names down and scrambled to remember later) Jyn/Cassian mill W

Round 5: Tanner Vader/Greedo W

Round 6: Nathaniel Yoda/Cassian/Anakin mill W

Round 7: Kent Cassian/Yoda mill L (http://swdestinydb.com/decklist/view/25348/ohregional10thplace-topherodeck-1.0)

  • Characters:

Plo Koon - Jedi Protector has become a favorite of mine in Destiny. He has a fascinating ability that I have been working around for a while; trilogy mill with two Jedha Partisan is a great time I recommend to everyone that also wants a good use for T-16 Skyhopper and Laser Cannon. I looked at L3-37 - Droid Revolutionary and two Rebel Engineer back when the set was fresh and while the idea is appealing (and also an incredible lineup of characters!) I wanted to try and come up with a rainbow combo for Armored Reinforcement. I hoped to push this lineup to its limit after several weeks of laboring over every card and a few last-minute changes. The strength of the Shadow Caster is undeniable and is most of the reason this deck is even playable, but the extra health and the need for less tech-y cards like Dangerous Maneuver and Karabast! free up a tiny bit of potential extra space that I think gives this a passing consideration when compared to the L3+Shadow Caster reset decks.

Plo Koon is less here for Blue cards (there are some great options though!) and more to confuse your opponents and hopefully misdirect their targeting early. Sure, killing him shuts off the additional effects of both Jedha Partisan and Rebel Engineer, but his die is the biggest liability in this deck; however, I am more than happy to run only three dice for the blowout potential of Armored Reinforcement. As a three-die start, it tends to make people look at the lineup with and say, "Oh, that's... really something," but I would consider the game-changing value of those three points worth basically always losing the battlefield choice.

My good friend Jedha Partisan is here to turn into , if you're lucky enough to pull your Scrap Heap early. The biggest weakness of this deck versus the L3 lineup is the consistency of the ramp, which IS a big deal. However, you don't know how fun it is to Attack Run your Shadow Caster with at least one Laser Cannon equipped, mill two from an opponent's deck, and then nab yourself two before resolving either or because you rolled terribly until you do it yourself. Plus, his die is one of the best you can ask for from a non-unique Yellow. Once you have at least one Scrap Heap, that means he's effectively showing 50% . Great guy, that Partisan.

I was kind of unimpressed by the Rebel Engineer at first glance, and then did a double-take. EVERY side (blank excepting, of course!) is perfectly resolvable on this friend! 100% health-versus-point cost investment! The consistency! The tutoring and deck knowledge! When you also allow Plo Koon - Jedi Protector to do the same thing, it gets pretty great because you're grabbing Blue and two additional health without losing the passive effect that I would argue is what allows the Shadow Caster to be worth freaking out over when prepping for events. I realize my remarks about the weakness of Plo's die and the strength of L3 and Rebel Engineer is a self-defeating argument when it comes to lineup because of just how GOOD Rebel Engineer's is, but let's ignore that and talk about the rest of the deck.

I want to stress before moving forward that this is NOT L3-lite; it's a different deck with similar objectives but a different manner of going about the journey. Come, let's be off on that journey together...

  • Battlefield:

Weapons Factory Alpha - Cymoon 1 is an obvious choice, but there are some other fun options if you want to screw with your opponents. Of course Theed Royal Palace - Naboo is posed to be one of the best (if not THE best!) battlefield in Trilogies, but Occupied City - Lothal can be quite the quandary for your opponents if you can start with both it and a Scrap Heap. This is a mindgame, and a fun one, but I went for the standard vehicle battlefield after some tests. And of the seven rounds of Swiss at the regional, I actually won it twice! One of them led to a three on Darth Vader - Terror To Behold turning into nine from a Fear and Dead Men, but that was a pretty huge mistake that did not come from the battlefield choice. The second saved my life from a Yoda/Cassian/Anakin mill, which was pretty big honestly.

  • Starting hand:

Do your best to get SOMETHING that gets you money. BB-8 is a super gift if you hit its side early, especially since you can slap it onto the Shadow Caster for free too. I took it out for a bit but I just feel like the little guy belongs here. Anyway, you're also looking for cheap mitigation (Hidden Motive?! Thank you Plo Koon!) and trying to avoid the big boys, stuff like Into The Garbage Chute and Outgun early. You need every single die in the opening rounds, but if an opponent is willing to spend mitigation on stopping your ramp and also not ramping themselves/protecting against the Shadow Caster, it's not so bad a trade. Claim and move on, and drop the thunder in the second round. This lineup is slightly more resilient (slightly!) than the L3 iteration, so you can stomach losing a round based on my tests against some "common" decks. I would also not be afraid to drop a Shield Generator early on, sometimes even before using your plot to pull in the Yellow Submarine™. It's a bit of a flex move that feels like a huge waste of one (big deal in this deck) if your opponent has no way to removing the support, but it can really take the wind of the sails of an opponent that threw away their ramp for a chance at ruining YOUR day. Finally, if you end up with the R2 Astromech in your hand, it's a nice win. Anything to get that Yellow Submarine™ to be free damage. Plus, it might actually be the best mod for it, since it's free AND allows reset potential? FFG, you're crazy...

I want to note I have no idea how to plan my starting hand against Thrawn - Master Strategist / Snoke - Supreme Leader, which seems like a terrible prospect going into regional season. Thank my friends for not wanting to pilot the deck for practice! (Post-regional note: I lucked out due to how my win/loss record unfolded, and I went the day without a Thrawn/Snoke, but I can probably tell you how that would have gone based on their prevalence in the top 8. Well played today, everyone!)

  • Mitigation suite:

Fairly self-explanatory, but I'm down to one Into The Garbage Chute because, while awesome, it's sad to pull it early and have to exhaust one of your characters to use it. An amazing card later when you don't need to frantically search for mods. I've been agonizing between Flank and Pinned Down for a while now, mostly because they serve similar purposes with different prerequisites. Not that I needed to tell any of you that! I really do recommend removing their character dice if it's all just kind of sitting there... There's probably a Vandalize coming. Pacify is there for that, and also for those and sides hanging out there, especially given my last two rounds were against mill!

  • Support suite:

You rarely have the money for N-1 Starfighter if you don't need it super early, but it's hilarious to slap the Targeting Astromech and destroy the opponent's Shadow Caster in the mirror. I'd almost consider trying to get it in your opening hand and playing it opening round to get your opponents to sweat. If you make them waste a Vandalize or such on your N-1 Starfighter, you have a shot to clutch out the victory. (Also, N-1 has the best art in the game, don't @ me!) C-3PO is here for that thing that can happen where Plo's two side becomes the s for a Caster reset off R2 Astromech, or something similar. I consider it and BB-8 of roughly equivalent value, because you don't really have the time to be cute with it like in other decks. Unless you really want to turn your six into six against a Launch Bay deck? Do people even do that?

Post-regional note: Aftermath was a last-minute addition over another Shield Generator and one of either Sabotage or Friends in Low Places and it paid off BIG time, given I had a whopping three Vader decks to play and not a single Surgical Strike, Vandalize, or Rocket Launcher were played against me. It's a great feeling, to threaten the death of your opponent's little or one of your friends, which would result in the money for a reset. Was less useful in my three mill rounds, but hey, it happens. I actually had so little trouble with money most rounds as a result of having both Scrap Heap and Aftermath, which means it was a win in my book!

  • Mods / Upgrade Suite:

A brief mention of Decoy: it's here for stopping the Power Action of Snoke, but I only blocked it once and then my opponent defeated me later that round anyway... It was basically never played otherwise. That was mostly just based on schedule, however, so I would leave it around for additional testing moving forward. I do think it has merit, but unfortunately it's yellow only.

Laser Cannon makes this deck sing. It turns it (along with Scrap Heap, although I've won games without them!) into a hilarious, almost frustrating affair for your opponents. Mill them. Kill them. Reset your Caster and do it all over again. It's damage the opponent can NEVER mitigate, no matter how small. I would go so far as to argue that the optimal lineup of mods in this particular deck is Laser Cannon / Laser Cannon / R2 Astromech or perhaps a Targeting Astromech somewhere. Ping their shields, resolve your damage, and move on. You don't have the consistency or explosive power of L3, so stop playing like a budget version of it! Play to your deck's strengths!

Only one copy of Triple Laser Turret is sad, but I just can't find room to bump it up to two. Most of the time, I find I'm winning because I'm milling opponent's ramp or mitigation and chipping them repeatedly over multiple instances of Laser Cannon over dice resolution. Again, turn the low dice count into a strength! It's a "similar" concept to the Doctor Aphra - Artifact Hunter decks running around. (Post-regional note: in one of my Vader games, I think my opponent took a total of twelve damage on Force Illusion, and I basically won because my opponent never got to see more than 60% of his deck! Surely it was not fun for him, so sorry about that!)

  • Tech suite:

The spiciest part of our dish. Obviously, it's time to give life to some old card no one ever thought was usable in Shield Generator and there's nothing more to be said there. Friends in Low Places is a great include for all kinds of purposes; shut down that big boy The Price of Failure, cut off the Commando Raid, save your life by eradicating their Vandalize or Surgical Strike, etc.

If your opponent forgets about Sabotage in the mirror, (and chances are they might!) oh boy. Depending on your hand, I wouldn't even bother trying to activate Rebel Engineer and Plo Koon - Jedi Protector for extra mods, just WRECK their Caster and move on. Your hand is worth it. This lineup specifically has better damage sides (although again, is less consistent) than the L3 lineup in a wet noodle fight, so you can probably win in a showdown of baby dice. Hopefully, they fulfilled the purpose of their deck and you're also going to remove L3 from the game too! Make them pay for underestimating the three character die start! I want to quickly stress this card is the fastest, most sure way to destroy the Shadow Caster currently that I am aware of, as it requires no additional combos (ambush chaining or Flames of the Past, for instance) and requires no dice in the pool. If your opponent lets you claim and you draw this puppy, let them have it! (Post-regional note: I think I heard there was only one other Shadow Caster reset deck there, and I did not see or play it. I spent a TON of time thinking about the mirror, so that was disappointing, but I suppose it makes the story more exciting. Additionally, my round seven opponent dropped a EMP Grenades as his FIRST action, which was HORRIFYING with his Yoda - Wizened Master, but I was fortunate enough to start with my only Shield Generator to ruin at least one resolution of that. He nailed that 2 side and I think that ended up being the better call most of the time too. Great game!)

Attack Run is a personal favorite of mine, and I can't believe it's taken people this long to understand the strength of Strategic Planning. Sure, mods have inherently made that one more valuable, but I used to pop fools for six or use a Target Intel off the Resistance Bomber back in Legacies and had both fun and success. I'm glad we all understand the best card in the Two-Player Starter now (sorry, Tactical Mastery!)

  • Cards I have been considering adding but haven't yet for various reasons, in no particular order:

Determination

Through The Pass (Hilarious when you you're only rolling out the Shadow Caster die and making two back from your Laser Cannon and Scrap Heap interactions!)

T-47 Airspeeder (My favorite vehicle aside from maybe X-Wing or Resistance Bomber, which can exhaust enemy supports, even one activation of Vader's Fist, if you roll well!)

Scruffy Looking Nerf-Herder

Vandalize (goodbye Sith Holocron!)

As I Have Foreseen

Flames of the Past (discard your own Shadow Caster, wreck theirs, and then summon yours from the Graveyard with Monster Reb- I mean, Armored Reinforcement)

Partnership (I took this out because I seemed to get one or both in every single opening hand I had across like 10 games, and while nice for the pseudo action-cheating, is not worth continually seeming to pull at inopportune times)

Cheat

Reckless Reentry

Some kind of instant gain, like Well-Connected, Truce, or the like)

Across The Galaxy

Salvo (is this worth losing a reset via R2 Astromech to potentially deal SIX to all of an opponent's characters? Probably!)

Tips and Tricks™:

Don't be afraid to save your Armored Reinforcement for after your opponent inevitably blows up your Shadow Caster, especially if they're running something silly like Red/Yellow hero, that has both Surgical Strike and Vandalize. In fact, I would almost encourage paranoia and hope you end up with a Friends in Low Places and/or a Shield Generator as early as possible to keep that from happening. Just play the stupid cards early and move on with your life, that action or can surely wait.

MEMORIZE YOUR DECK ORDER. I cannot stress this enough. You can see almost half of your deck placement in the first round (5 draw, two Rebel Engineer activations) and so please use the tools you have been given. Some people argue it's better to instantly tutor using the plot to make sure you have knowledge the rest of the game, but this lineup can't really do that. Maybe activate one of your tutor friends first, see both your Scrap Heaps go by and cry, and then shuffle to try and get them early again. I'm actually taking my deck with me to work and practicing activating and searching twice, drawing a random number of cards, then drawing 4 and shuffling, etc. I work a desk job where I have the potential to imitate something similar to a game of Destiny (talking with strangers, answering questions, talking and calculating numbers) as a chance to hopefully make the deck clearer in my head. Whatever you need to do to do this, do it! There is no deck like this in the game currently, and once you know your deck, you can cycle past four less "good" cards in your current game to get to the goodies. You can preemptively potentially save choice cards from Jyn Erso - Daring Infiltrator and her pal Cassian Andor - Rebellion Operative (Post-regional note: I ended up doing terribly at this, although I did manage to save a single copy of Attack Run once. I still have a ton of work to do!)

Destroy, DESTROY Force Throw if you can. One of the local players (and also my third round opponent!) loves DJ - Treacherous Rogue / Snoke - Supreme Leader and every time that card gets dropped I get all anxious inside. I have forgone activations of the Shadow Caster if it means not having a minimum of 2 damage chucked back at me. "But Caleb, they can't do it when Triple Laser Turret is also in the pool!" I would say you can't guarantee the safety of that particular die, so just get it out of the pool if you can.

Don't be afraid to resolve the smaller damage sides, especially in opening rounds. It's great to ruin someone's regional experience with a six in the first round, but sometimes it's a better choice to slap them for three and save your other cards for their intended purposes rather than a reroll. So much of this deck works in conjunction with one another that it's tough to merit throwing away that Attack Run you got stuck with in your opening hand, but I trust you to be the master of your own Destiny...

On the battlefield deliberation, I value the additional two health via the two over the technical extra most of the time. If you find your Scrap Heaps early, you are a fortuitous player, so I would slap both onto the Jedha Partisan or go a one-one split at worst between the yellow friend and the red friend. Losing the Rebel Engineer first can be a bit of a bother because of how awesome that die is, but it sucks worse when you can't make off your Scrap Heaps even more. Most of the time, your opponent is not going to give you the chance to even think, since they'll probably win the roll and just take theirs and move on, but if you are cheeky and run Occupied City - Lothal AND start with a Scrap Heap... Play those bad boys as your first action and enjoy the instant refund on investment.

If you were brave enough to read this all the way through, know you have learned a great of insight on a deck not worth this level of insight. Please, any thoughts or tips would be appreciated if this is getting constructed behind the scenes. I would love for some discourse!

P.S. I think the inspiration here actually came from a Plo Koon/two Rebel Engineer deck on day 1 of the AtG launch, which I hope I credited properly. Obviously, this deck and that became something wildly different, but it never would have happened if not for that. Who knows, that could become my next project!

11 comentarios

richman 28

wow this deck is awesome you are the best thanks man i will have to bring this to my store

alsarkis 57

Solid breakdown. I'm curious if you think the nerf to Strategic Planning will hurt the effectiveness of this deck. I assume you are going to replace your 2 copies of them. Any ideas with what?

Caleb723 41

@alsarkis Thanks for the question! I do think that in a raw measurement of efficacy, RainPlo Dash was hit by this. However, I'm not sure yet on if I would be dropping both of them or not. You can alternatively work much harder to get your N-1 Starfighter out and just Strategic Planning that, especially in L3 decks which have more focus. As long as C-3PO is in the game, the N-1 is showing six sides as well. You can also do cheeky plays like rolling out the Shadow Caster with no mods, ready it while the dice is in the pool, THEN load up the mods. This obviously gives your opponent tons of time to mitigate it, but there are ways of still using it. I love the nerf, personally, as it makes the deck a more "strategic" affair and less of a "slap damage on L3, roll your resources, and ready your Caster 4 times in a round and win the game" kind of deck. I am going to test it as a potential one-of to shut down enemy supports, but I think it being an auto x2 is no longer a concern. I was worried they were just going to smack Armored Reinforcement, and I love what that plot's doing as a potential option in the game currently, so I think this is the best way to tackle the problem without ruining the playstyle entirely. (Strategic Planning also still being able to exhaust any support, mods or not, is great! That's being intelligent with your errata, there)

As for replacements, this really does make this exact style of Shadow Caster decks, ones that load up dice-less mods, better, because of the current other "reset" card in the game, Through The Pass. I was using the card before and loving it, so I'm going to try running two of them straight up now and see how well the deck can use it. It's less valuable in L3-37 - Droid Revolutionary decks because I feel like it really needs the explosive power of the Dorsal Turret and the Triple Laser Turret, especially since it has the focus to maximize all that dice. Otherwise, more action cheating on things like Partnership or Drop In to make the die as close to impossible to remove (rather than just forcing an opponent to remove it multiple times per round) might be better.

Who knows, this could also just make for sure that Firespray-31 is the superior big vehicle all along, but time will tell. I always write way too much!

nonameface 197

So I gave this deck a try (with a few minor changes), I won all my casual games with it and everyone I played thought it was bullshit that I could roll it in that many times. That said, I wasn't clear or comfortable with my Shadow Caster pulling strategy.

Should I be trying to mulligan hard to get it in my starting hand? Should I pop Armored Reinforcement right away to get it out as soon as I have the 2 resources (with the battlefield, or 3 without?). Should I tutor away the first rounds of cards with the Rebel Engineer and if I don't see it go by hope I draw it in round 2 (and if it does then tutor it with the plot)?

Caleb723 41

@nonameface: Sorry for the delay, my computer's been acting up, I think the decision on playing Caster from hand or discard/deck really depends on your matchup. If you're up against something with the potential to easily wreck it (Red Hero with Surgical Strike, 4+ die Yellow with Vandalize) then I would be cautious about aggressively popping it. Honestly though, at the regional I went to, I think the only people who had tech to destroy the Caster were my friends who had been playing it for weeks, so your mileage may vary.

I did end up bringing it out in the first round when I had the Battlefield (which only happened twice I think) and the second in all the others. This deck is just barely more resilient than the L3-37 - Droid Revolutionary deck so you can afford being a little slower. Against mill I don't think it's bad to mulligan for since it's less you "lose" if they destroy your hand (because you just play from discard regardless). I had the most success keeping at least one cheap mod (either R2 Astromech or a Laser Cannon) and just cycling for the others. I usually stop tutoring once it's loaded up though, because I want all those nice cards like Outgun and Aftermath if I don't have them already.

I'm curious to hear what changes you made! I haven't looked at it much since getting back, but it's always on my mind. Thanks for commenting!

nonameface 197

I made a few changes because I forgot to bring my TLT die, so some were just last minute because I forgot a die, but the deck I played was:

-1 Triple Laser Turret
-1 Decoy
-1 BB-8
+1 Easy Pickings
+1 Pinned Down
+1 Friends in Low Places

I played against a Snoke/Thrawn and I won, but it was really close and I'm not sure I could consistently beat it. I see the wisdom in Decoy now against that matchup and I would likely swap it back in in place of 1 Friends in Low Places.

I think I would consider adding a 2nd Shadow Caster or another 'big' vehicle as insurance. I think a 2nd caster is ideal, will help you draw it in the opening so you can save the plot to resurrect it if needed -- or if you just can't get enough to play the one in your hand you can plot the other copy out of your deck for -1

koen 1

Is there still the usability to play Strategic Planning after the errata? You cannot ready Shadow Caster (with modes) any more.

nonameface 197

@koen I swapped all Strategic Planning for Through The Pass, costs 1 more but still the same idea. Since I have no Triple Laser Turret in my version or shadowcaster upgrades that added extra die it was still worth it to me. Basically makes it an R2 Astromech upgrade from hand.

There is still use in Strategic Planning though if you're running into support heavy metas since you can nail their support and exhaust it.

Caleb723 41

@koen I haven't used the deck much myself after the regional, although I put it back together to test to see if I want to take it to the other two regionals I can attend (although the Yoda - Wizened Master/Hired Gun/Gungan Warrior/Armored Reinforcement list is, again, probably superior to this lineup in consistency and raw power). I'm running one as a cheeky card to ready the Shadow Caster when it has no mods, ready the N-1 Starfighter if possible, or, as @nonameface said, exhaust the opposing player's Caster. Although honestly, if you're going to run a tech card for that, just run Disable instead (but don't use it on me!). I love the nerf, since it turns the concept of Caster decks into slightly less (and I hesitate to use this word) braindead affairs of, "Jam the mods down and reset a bunch of times to win," because you at least need TWO in order to reset. I'm trying Through The Pass as well since with no dice mods on it, it's a 2-cost to roll out and ready again in one action. You probably want a Triple Laser Turret on in most cases, which makes this less valuable, but it's still cool to try. Reckless Reentry is also worth considering for the "pseudo reset" effect as well now, but has less inherent synergy with Laser Cannon, which I consider crucial to the deck's success. The amount of two wides running 20-24 HP is pretty big based on what I'm seeing, and chances are your opponent's not going to easily get that health back.

Glad to see there's still some discussion on this deck, I think it's the most exciting deck I've built completely from scratch. I have a few new brews in progress, but this one just keeps calling me back. I have my current build updated to: -1 Decoy: lack of Snoke means this is inherently less valuable +1 Shadow Caster: not sure if this is what I want but it's probably better this way -1 Strategic Planning +1 Through The Pass

Strongly considering adding in Suppressive Fire for Hit and Run plays, eating Darth Vader - Terror To Behold dice, and just being generally useful at stuffing super valuable character dice. I'm going to test against the Yoda/HG/Gungan/AR deck soon, so that may influence some picks as well.

koen 1

But on the card list there is Triple Laser Turret present. Is it replaced in your current deck with sth else? Regarding gaining resources. The idea is to rotate my deck to get Scrap Heap and then go with undirect atack?

Caleb723 41

Nope, I'm still running one Triple Laser Turret because it's quite a solid card in almost every case. Even though it's less good with Through The Pass there are some games where the extra damage and mitigation potential will be worth it (in something like a mitigation-heavy control deck like DJ - Treacherous Rogue and Snoke - Supreme Leader). It might sound a little scatterbrained to make remarks about how good both of them are separately and not necessarily together ("Why are you running both then?") and that's because I haven't tested enough to see which is better, haha.

But yeah, the goal's to get your Scrap Heaps down early if possible, secure enough for the Big Yellow Submarine™, and then jam some Laser Cannons on and watch the deck pay for itself. Bonus points if you can get in Aftermath as your opponents kill your own characters and while you chip away at theirs. You can win without the Scrap Heap but it feels pretty bad without them. And if an opponent uses mitigation cards like Vandalize or Disable on them, you can begrudgingly accept the loss and hope you can clutch it out anyway.