We’ve all won or lost a game on the back of a perfect roll or draw. This form of variance is part of what makes card and dice games so great. They allow players of different skill levels to play on roughly equal terms. Without variance in the game, the better player would win 100% of the time. Despite the dual variance present in Destiny, you will find that the best players continue to find success from week to week and in the large events that have taken place. This is, in part, because of the consistency in their play and in the decks that they play. While I could go on and on about how to become a more consistent player, and I hope to in future articles, this article is focused on the role consistency plays in deck building and in the metagame.
Consistency is the reason that you play 2 copies of your best cards and pick characters that have as many damage sides as possible when playing an aggressive strategy. It’s the reason the R2P2 was a dominant strategy in the EaW metagame and it is the secret driving force behind the current metagame. Let’s look at some of the top performing decks to see what I mean.
- eAayla/eRose/Ezra Vehicles
- Riekan/Yoda/Partisan
- ePoe/eHondo
- eObi-Wan/eMaz
- eKylo/Talzin
- eBala/eTalzin/Trooper
- eZeb/eYoda
- eTarkin/eSeventh Sister
There are eight decks here and every single one of them has one of the following tools to
mitigate variance:
- Focus or Specials on character dice that can turn a dice to any side
- An ability that can turn a dice to any side
- Cards and Abilities that can use sub-optimal rolls to gain an advantage
You also see cards like C3P0 which allows a player to sacrifice tempo in order to add
consistency to their dice rolls.
All of these decks are designed to do one thing, and to execute that one thing with consistency. As you can see by the top performing deck lists from the new Legacies metagame, consistency is king. Legacies gave us a bunch of tools to increase the consistency of our rolls and of our decks. If you look at the deck lists for the most successful decks you will also see a few cards that haven’t seen much play in previous metagames:
These cards are very good at fighting consistency. For example:
Your opponent rolls in Aayla and hits double special and has some strong vehicles out? You now have a get out of jail free card in hyperspace jump to avoid what could have been a devastating turn. Your opponent rolls in yoda and hits double focus, special and a special on both of their force speeds? Retreat sounds pretty nice in that spot.
Bottom line is that in Star Wars: Destiny deck building relies on consistency as a core concept. You are not going to win 6-8 games in a regionals tournament to make top 8 by playing the deck that is unbeatable only 30% of the time, especially with people hyperspace jumping around the galaxy. You need to build a deck that can reliably execute its own game plan, and that can deny your opponent from doing the same.
This can be done in a number of ways and you aren’t forced to play the characters that have appeared in the top performing lists to have a deck that is consistent. Consistency can be obtained through adjusting the quality of your dice through the methods outlined above or by changing the quantity.
Statistically, the more dice that you roll into your pool, the more likely you are to obtain a
favorable result. Once you add the discard to reroll mechanic that the game offers you have an increased chance at obtaining the outcome you desire. While not as effective as a focus or special side of a dice you are trading cards in hand as opposed to the dice you have on the board to achieve this. Both of which are a limited resource on any given turn.
Outside of the dice you have in play you can increase the consistency of the cards you draw by Playing as many copies of the cards and effects that you want to see in the first few turns as you can. This tip is a balancing act. No deck will be successful with 30 upgrades or 30 pieces of die removal. However, if the goal of your first turn is you play at least 1 upgrade on the first turn you should try to have at least 8-10 upgrades in your deck to increase your chances of drawing an upgrade in your opening hand. You should also consider playing cards that help you find specific upgrades. The best example is Lightsaber Pull.
Lightsaber Pull effectively counts as two additional copies of every blue weapon in your deck. The same principle is true for removal, resource generation, direct damage events, and supports. Another way to increase consistency is with card draw. The more cards that you have in a given turn, the more likely you are to find the cards you are looking for.
By using these methods any deck that you build will become more consistent. So, what are the benefits to a consistent deck? A consistent deck will perform similarly in every game that you play. You will more consistently hit your turn one upgrades, have removal when you need it, and be able better understand your deck’s strengths and weaknesses as you play it against other strategies. With the correct ratio of cards in your deck you will be more likely to anticipate how the game will play out from turn to turn by having a better understanding of what you are likely to draw in future turns. This will allow you to better plan ahead on what future turns will look like and it will improve your play dramatically.
I can’t promise you that any deck built with these tips in mind will be able to win your next regionals, because there are additional elements at play in the metagame. However, I can promise that if you use these concepts you will see improvement in how the decks that you create perform from game to game. And hopefully you will have a few more stories about how you won on the back of great roll or draw.
Thanks for Reading,
Arthur
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