Today marks the start of a new series we’ll be doing at the Destiny Council, called Magnuson Madness. Jon and I have garnered a reputation for out of the box deck ideas, some of which have turned out to be successful. We’re going to lean into that reputation in this new series, in which we explore some of our crazy ideas – theory crafting and imagining what might be possible. And who knows, maybe one of them will turn out to be the next Aphra/Executioners.
Today’s mad idea is centered around the new Jabba, a 10/13 support character with a really interesting draw ability. His ability to make Bounties more consistent or just to provide extra removal every round is well understood. But as I considered his ability, another idea came to mind – what if we used his ability to go after Delve? Delve is one of the more powerful yellow events if you are able to use it on something big, but it is very inconsistent – you have to draw it with a big support or upgrade in order for it to do anything. Yet, even with the inconsistency it’s effect is powerful enough that it has seen play in top decks from time to time, and as we continue to see expensive supports printed it becomes more tantalizing. If we can find a way to make Delve more consistent it has the potential to help drive a broken engine. This is where Jabba’s ability to search for Delve comes in, vastly increasing our odds of drawing it early, allowing us to mulligan hard for a big support. With that in mind, let’s start building and see what we come up with.
In this version, we Double Down on Delve to increase our odds of playing it early even more. Adding an extra Planetary Bombardment also increases the chances of a highly impactful early game Delve. Advantageously, Jabba is a leader, making Megablaster Troopers another powerful play. Watto seems like a perfect partner for this strategy, as he makes gaining that 3rd resource round one easy and reliable, and helps to drive a resource curve high enough to play some of our big cards without drawing delve, an important part of effectively playing this strategy.
Of course, I’d be remiss to not try to pull together a rainbow version – Vader’s Fist and Planetary Bombardment are by far the best Delve targets. You could go with a Snoke edition, but I couldn’t help but feel that Snoke has better partners than Jabba (and also, that’s boring). So I went with another Double Down version, trying out another new character, Sly Moore. This version has the best Delve Targets, and I’ve included some extra resource generation to help guarantee a high enough resource curve to support these big cards. Between Sly Moore, Probe, and ID10, we’ve also got some nice hand control to help protect our big dice. And who doesn’t like the idea of Jabba wielding a Handheld Cannon?
So there you have it, Jabba + Delve, a match made in heaven. But is it any good? I’m not really sure, but I think the theory behind it is important – Jabba gains his highest value from increasing the odds of hitting highly impactful yellow events early in the game. As such, theory-crafting with Jabba should center around what sort of impactful yellow events or bounties we want to draw early in the game. Delve is the first event that came to mind, but it may not be the only option, especially as new sets and new events are revealed. What other yellow events do you think could be worth playing Jabba for? Let us know in the comments!
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