The introduction of Across the Galaxy has seen all sorts of wildness enter the game. Double Down, -1 plots, Vader, and all sorts of pushed characters. Much of this wildness has been good and exciting, and I have loved playing ATG. But, a negative aspect of this wildness has been the introduction of more OTK decks – decks that seek to kill you in one round by drawing their whole deck and abusing a few cards. No one likes these decks (they’re awful to play against), and I am confident that some errata attempting to curve these decks will come – but FFG is notoriously slow at putting out errata, so it’s tough to be sure when changes might come. So, in the mean time, I consider it my public duty to help keep these decks off the table. Today’s article will look at some decks that I think can beat these OTK decks, hopefully giving those of you with an early Regional or GQ some ideas as you prepare. (Full disclosure: I have not tested extensively against the new OTK decks, so take this advice with a grain of salt. However, these decks are where I would start if I was preparing for a Regional in the next few weeks, and I think this is a good place to start if you’re looking for ways to beat OTK decks.)
Boba Fett/Seventh Sister
You may have just had flashbacks of last regionals season, and be wondering if I might be getting too nostalgic. But hear me out. Boba/Sister is the original OTK stopper, putting a lid on what was then the big bad of the meta – BroTK. Why was it so good at stopping that deck? It has great disruptive capabilities – lots of disrupt sides and events like FILP, CQA, and Abandon All Hope. Though today’s OTK decks are a different animal, beating OTK decks still requires these same types of disruptive elements; letting them go ahead with their game plan will always result in a loss. This deck has the disruptive elements necessary to make OTK decks work for it. And in case you think this deck is dead in the water against the rest of the meta – think again. With the introduction of Theed Palace and Vader’s Lightsaber (which has no Blue restriction, by the way), the “throw down a big lightsaber round 1 and pound your opponent’s face in” strategy has never been easier to pull off. This deck still produces more raw damage more consistently than almost any deck in the game, and that will always makes it dangerous.
Snoke
Why didn’t the Launch Bay OTK deck ever really take off in the competitive seen? Snoke is a big reason why, as his power action allows you to accentuate the disruptive sides of your other characters. Discard and disrupt sides on your sidekicks become terrifying sides for any deck to deal with, but especially for these OTK decks. Now, from what I understand, the current OTK decks are much more resilient than the Launch Bay deck, so Snoking a discard side may not quite be a game ender for these decks. But still, I doubt any OTK player will feel great sitting across from Snoke.
Mill
The other reason the Launch Bay OTK deck never took off was the pervasiveness of hero mill. Mill/discard enough important cards and these OTK decks tend to fizzle out. For this reason, Mill decks will always be a tougher matchup for OTK decks.
Jyn/Cassian/Yoda
Jyn/Cassian has been a popular deck early in the Meta, and it’s a deck with pretty good disruptive capabilities. Both Jyn and Cassian have mill abilities, and they pack 4 discard sides between the 2 of them. I don’t think Jyn/Cassian has anything close to an auto win against the OTK decks, but it at least has the capacity to stop them, especially in the hands of a good player.
Jyn/Yoda is another deck I’ve been playing with recently, and it has similar disruptive capabilities. I actually like this deck better against the OTK lists, because it can effectively run Rocket Launchers, which can send the Shadow Caster OTK decks home crying pretty quickly. Is it as good against the rest of the field as Jyn/Cassian? I’m not sure yet, but if it’s strong enough against the rest of the field it is definitely a good call against the OTK decks.
And of course, Cassian/Yoda is another deck that can hit an opponents hand and deck hard. The first round Hyperspace Jump is also very real in this deck, which can help buy you an extra round against these OTK decks. It is my opinion that this deck was one of the most underappreciated in the WOF meta, and it does some extremely broken things.
The bottom line is that beating OTK decks requires discarding your opponent’s cards and disrupting their resources. So if you’re looking for a deck that can handle OTK, start by looking for characters and lineups that have this capacity. The above decks are a few good examples of disruptive decks, and are a good place to start if you’re preparing for OTKs. Happy testing!
Comments