The next deck we’ll take a look at is what I believe to be the new and improved Phasma (guardians) deck: Aayla Guard *2.
Keep in mind that this currently adds up to 28, so we get a 2 cost plot, but even if Aayla gets nerfed to cost 13/14, this deck will still be legal. I chose the draw a card plot, just because I feel like the 1 extra card you get will be worth more than a single shield, especially if it draws you a great turn 1 card. As far as battlefields go, I went with Secluded Beach since as a slow guardian deck, I won’t be claiming, and that battlefield can’t hurt my deck at all.
So here’s the list:
The way to think of this deck is, as I said earlier, the new Phasma deck. However, our guardians have much stronger dice than trooper guavian, (at least in my opinion), and Aayla is certainly a much stronger core character. Beyond having great damage sides and a focus that psuedo-cheats specials, it can also soft control opponents, further helping the defensive nature of a guardian deck. The biggest strength of a double guardian deck is that if your opponent tries to go right for your carry, he will be splitting his damage between 3 characters, which is a recipe for disaster. Add to the guardian abilities 2 dice with Qui Gon’s shield sides, and Aayla looks unkillable, even by cheated damage.
So let’s take a look at our upgrade suite. Remember that we took the draw a card battlefield, so what we are really looking for turn one is Jedi Robes. The added hp and the additional resource ramp are great turn one, and it can be overridden later on. We are also looking for Force Speed, it’s free, and adds a ton of value. Finally, we are looking for Destiny. The Temple Guard dice are weak turn 1, with the +2 sides, but they are great for Destiny, and if you draw Destiny with 2 upgrades (remember we have 6 cards), you will definitely be able to play both turn one. The rest of the upgrades are pretty standard, we get Redeploy from Heirlooms and Rey’s, and we take advantage of Aayla’s psuedo cheats with Lightbow.
Taking a look at our defensive suite, it’s quite impressive. We have reliable removal in 1 Force Illusion, 1 Sound the Alarm, Overconfidence, Caution, Flank, and the new and beautiful Unbreakable. Add onto this the less reliable but efficient Guard, and the crazy potential of the single Force Misdirection ( I don’t run two because Guardian decks tend to remove dice piece meal, and you don’t always get a lot of dice into the pool if you are using guardian abilities early). That’s 13 control cards on top of your two guardians. A couple specific notes: Flank is quite strong with guardian as you tend to leave your guardians standing, and Unbreakable can always hit specials, which will be key early on in the meta, as tons of people will be running Yoda, 2Poe, Aayla, and other special abusers. Note also that the traditional weakness of blue hero removal is needing your dice in the pool, that is no longer the case with this deck between Unbreakable, Flank, Sound the Alarm, Overconfidence, Force Illusion, and your guardians.
As far as offensive cards go, we are currently lacking, with just running Synchronicity, which works quite well with the Guard dice. It’s not that there aren’t options out there. Ataru Strike is tempting, but only works while you have shields, and requires a character dice showing melee, and it won’t work with the Guard’s +2s. There are plenty of die fixing cards you could run and with Force Speed they could get some value. However, I ultimately feel that your best aggressive option is to just get more dice on the board, so Destiny is what I went with.
Now I’m sure there are plenty of cards that I’ve left out once again, but what do you think? Is blue hero Phasma too good? Some may ask why do I run Destiny over Adapt? Well let’s think about it. Let’s say you roll that 2 shield on the Guard. In order to Adapt, we resolve the shield, play adapt, then play a card using that 1 additional resource. Destiny plays a 2 cost upgrade all in 1 action with that same 2 shield. It is faster, more flexible, and able to give you more ramp than Adapt. Anyway, got any deck ideas you want explored? Feel free to suggest them.
Comments