Rako-Kallus Done Right - Worlds 2022 ARH Standard Winning De 1.0

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• 1.0

This is how you Rako-Kallus. I took this to a completely undefeated victory at Gencon 2022, which was the "official" ARH Worlds tournament for 2022. 9 victories, 0 losses. 4 of those victories were in the top cut.

First, what you have to understand is that this deck came about as an evolution of two decks I previously designed. First was the Jyn-Han Cycling deck with which I won the Winter 2022 ARH invitational. The second was the Chewie-Sinjir Support deck that prior to Seeking Answers was quite a legitimate threat to the overall meta.

The Jyn-Han Cycler was predicated on the notion that (1) leveraging significant card draw to reach Black Market Connection, and (2) the resource constriction from Jyn Erso's detect ability, would make it difficult for nearly any deck to adequately respond. This strategy worked very well, and eventually led to the restriction of Jyn and Han together.

Chewie-Sinjir took inspiration from that strategy with some modifications. The interaction of General with Sinjir Rath Velus is rather good, so why not try to emulate the draw package in the deck? The deck really took off once I realized that instead of playing a lot of upgrades we were better off focusing on a few choice upgrades (General + Vibrosword) and running the best value supports.

Rako-Kallus combines both ideas with extra tech. Like Chewie-Sinjir, we run lean on upgrades but instead of Veteran of War we're on Westars. Like Chewie-Sinjir, we have a value support package. But like Jyn-Han, we get the full draw package with Covert Mission since we can run Intelligence Operation. So, it can nearly cycle as well as Jyn-Han, but the rest of the deck has a twist. We don't get to lock down cards, but we do get the Kallus ping and the Rako resource. With Cloud City as the Battlefield, Rako's detect, and Kallus's PA, we can deal 2-3 indirect damage a turn. And if we're lucky, we get a resource from Rako's detect. So in a loose sense, it's like a 6-die deck.

In prep for Worlds, I realized that Commando Raid had the capacity to be an answer to each deck I was particularly concerned about: Cassian reset, Thrawn Mill, and Leia Mill. For one thing, we can sometimes mill nearly as fast as the mill-opponent, but it also just outright cripples their turn most of the time. And of course it can halt the advance of a Cassian deck very quickly if they suddenly lose access to most of their hand, especially the big bomb they were hoping to keep. Not only that, it draws me a card!

So, 2x Commando Raid became my final change to the deck, and it paid off big time. Smacking for 3 discard was a beastly and frequent occurrence at Worlds. And no game was lost to mill.

I think there are still a few flex cards one can consider based on playstyle and preference. Defiant Uprising is great with four damage sides, but slotting in Rogue Two there would be fine. IB-94 Blaster instead of a Westar also seems fine. Rallying Cry vs. Strike a Deal -- you can go either way. I'm liking the one-of RC and the play restriction can sometimes be a benefit with the Kallus PA versus the Strike a Deal which can frequently bite you. I love Roll In The Mud and was disappointed that I couldn't pull that off versus the Hondo-Vizla top cut match, but it definitely came in handy against the charm decks.

In sum, this version of Rako-Kallus is a strong contender at this point for the best deck in the format. I'll be curious to see if there are any additional innovations that make sense in the coming weeks.