ClusterJank Dr. Norm Edition (Gencon Filthy Casuals 2nd) 1.0

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• 1.0

First off, though I titled this with "2nd" what I specifically mean is this was second in votes for most janky deck, of course losing that contest to Obi-Daughter-Solidarity Mill.

Second off, its actual game losses were pretty close, and it was I believe 5th overall at 3-2, and at the top in terms of strength of schedule.

Okay, so what is this monstrosity? Well, the basic thesis is to get TIE Fighter Squadron with Cluster Missiles on it, have Black Stall Station out, and turn your entire hand into 3-damage-for-0-resource cards. That is, assuming they still have 2 characters out. If they have 3 characters, it gets insane (just ask Patrick). I can hear you now: "What do you mean, you Doctor Lieutenant Engineer inebriated master of madness, how do your cards magically become damage?" Let's read a few cards, oh ye audience of audacity...

Cluster Missiles -- "Action - Remove one of attached vehicle's vehicle or upgrade dice to deal 1 damage to each of an opponent's characters."

TIE Fighter Squadron -- "After this die is resolved or removed, you may discard a card from your hand to roll this die into your pool."

And there you have it. No matter what the opponent does, you can always discard a card to roll that TIE squad die back into the pool. And whenever you do remove your vehicle or mod die (helloooooo Dorsal Turret!) you send a damage to each of the opponent's characters, plus you trigger Black Stall Station for an indirect.

How do we accomplish this epic feat? First, our team is CM Hera Syndulla from the reprint list to reset TIE Squad on that rare occasion, Bix Caleen to make your mods cheaper, and IG-11 to enable us to play the villain cards we want in the first place. Second, you're going to hard mull for Cluster Missiles most of the time. You'll keep the XS Freighter as well as an alternative path. We have Armored Reinforcement to get the TIE Squad, which you'll either do turn 1 or 2 depending on your hand (i.e., do you have XS Freighter or Cluster to start). You've got 4 cantrip cards in the deck too, making it easier to dig. Bix Caleen as already mentioned helps us to get the Clusters out even if they're in the discard pile. Due to Black Stall Station being completely dependent on getting other things out, you never keep it if you don't have the freighter or CLuster in your starting hand.

Here's a cute trick: Suppose you have XS Freighter in your starting hand and no mods, do you AR for Squad or play the XS? In that case, go for XS. You then pilot it with Hera, pull Cluster on turn 1. Then on turn 2, you pilot again, and overwrite the Cluster with the Heavy Laser Cannon, then play TIE Squad with AR, then use Bix to get the Cluster on the Squad.

Another cute trick: Lightspeed Skipping on the piloted TIE Squad die. Since you can discard a card to roll the die back into the pool... LS always triggers and you get to remove 2 dice. Pretty neat eh?

So I thought this was pretty off-beat and under the radar, but it was super hilarious at the Gencon Filthy Casuals tournament to square off against the one and only The Tank just to find him on his own Cluster Missile deck. I narrowly beat him, entirely due to Black Stall Station, which if he had put in his deck would have been my undoing. Anyway, this is a fun deck to play and I'm glad I brought it out for Gencon.

Finally, I want to give a few shout-outs to others who contributed to ideas in this deck. Nemesis turned me on to the Squad-Cluster combo itself, but he started it in Red-Blue with Soontir-Ochi. LiquidSnake and I messed with a few different iterations of teams, and Nute and I both determined that the Bix-Hera-Iggy team was probably the fastest way to get Clusters out to begin with. Nemesis provided the Lightspeed Skipping trick, which is hilarious. Black Stall Station was my own thing. Next up, trying to break it with my next idea: Fortress Vader!

EDIT: I failed to make a change to the deck before publishing -- that should be UNDERCITY as the battlefield, not Cyber Center.