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Perhaps the strangest evolution of a deck out of Legends of the Force is Han Solo - Audacious Smuggler. Normally this deck would pair with Energy Conversion Lab or a 30 Health base, but now Han pairs well with Starlight Temple with a Force package. Last weekend was our burial ceremony for Force Throw, so before reports start coming in about the newly evolved meta let's take a look at this deck which didn't use it anyways!
Deck: Han Force | Star Wars Unlimited
LEADER:
1x Han Solo - Audacious Smuggler
BASE:
GROUND UNITS:
2x Chewbacca - Faithful First Mate
2x Maz Kanata - The Light Guides
2x Qui-Gon Jinn - The Negotiations Will Be Short
3x Depa Billaba - A Higher Purpose
3x Kelleran Beq - The Sabered Hand
3x Obi-Wan Kenobi - Protective Padawan
3x Vernestra Rwoh - Precocious Knight
SPACE UNITS:
3x Blue Leader - Scarif Air Support
3x Millennium Falcon - Piece of Junk
EVENTS:
2x Bamboozle
3x Resupply
3x Waylay
UPGRADES:
SIDEBOARD:
2x Sneak Attack
2x The Marauder - Shuttling the Bad Batch
Like any good Force focused deck our biggest weakness here is our lack of space units. We run the classic Waylay to protect ourselves from early and fast space hitters, and the less classic Bamboozle which we can take advantage of without paying a cost. With Han we'll ramp and run our resources hard, so Bamboozle comes as a surprise to the opponent when we use the alternate cost. While not removal, Qi'ra also helps us in the space arena by getting a glimpse of the opponent's hand to prevent a space unit from being played. Blue Leader provides us a little flexibility also if our opponent isn't hitting the space arena either which is likely in the Force meta. U-Wing Reinforcement also helps us dig for our 6 space units if the situation becomes dire.
We want to hit early and often, and Han helps us do that by providing us an extra resource to spend every turn. To compound our ability to ramp we want to Resupply as soon as possible to make the resource gap between us and our opponent even further. To mitigate the randomness with Han's ability and provide us late-game consistency we add Tech so we can smuggle our space units from our resources or a late game bomb like Kelleran Beq or Qui-Gon.
Our Force package comes in two major parts. The first part here highlights our cheaper units that we'll play early but can also provide us some late game support. Let's start with the first turn play Gungi; a Force unit with a big defensible Health value. Gungi is a great play early in the game because he's cheap and has some survivability. Often he can get through to the base just so you can have the Force. Obi-Wan should consistently have Sentinel with all the Force units we have and the availability of resources here. Obviously, this is great in the early game, but it can be valuable in the late game to insure your bigger Jedi survive an attack. Finally, Vernestra Rwoh is the only card in our deck that asks to use the Force allowing her to enter the ground arena readied. Not as powerful as Ambush but for only 3 Resources the efficiency of having a readied attacker can be game changing.
Depa Billaba is my favorite game-ending finisher in this deck with Saboteur allowing her to get around Sentinels who may block the way. Her stats are also pretty high allowing her survivability and also getting some nice hits for chunks of 5 or 8 with General's Blade attached. Kelleran Beq is another high stat value Force unit that can close the game for you, however, the biggest benefit from Kelleran is his ability to look for an ally and play it in the same action at a discount. The efficiency of Kelleran in Han's ramp gives you some tactical card advantage if you fall behind. The king of the deck, Qui-Gon Jinn, has swapped stats with Depa - he can hit harder but at the cost of a necessary 2 Health, putting him in Takedown range. Thankfully he comes equipped with Ambush so he can take someone down with him before getting unceremoniously cut in half. The icing on the cake for Qui-Gon is when he dies he'll bring another ground unit with him, but gracefully avoiding When Defeated effects by putting the enemy unit on the bottom of the opponent's deck.
As far as other support goes Maz Kanata gives us a Force-type lieutenant to optimize our action economy and put a little bonus on a potential attacker. For 3 resources her stats are fair, and after she comes in and does her thing she might even hit smaller enemies to take them out. Chewbacca - Faithful First Mate can pilot one of our two ships not only making it bigger but providing an incredibly helpful line of survivability text. When we need something dead sooner rather than later or to close the gap in a base race we play Surprise Strike, and when we need even more bonus stats with action economy we run Hotshot which can be smuggled without the help of Tech.
Overall the aim of the deck hasn't changed much since Spark of Rebellion. Your early game focuses on widening the resource gap between you and your opponent, though now you'll also want to grab a Force token for your Vernestra. In the midgame you hit hard and fast, outpacing your opponent in combat until you have enough of an advantage to close the deal.
In the bright new world of a post Force Throw meta, take this deck for a spin and watch it thrive while it survives against the likes of Open Fire! Until next time, may the Force be with you.
