“Yeah, Vader gets the most debate. I can see that. I mean, if you don’t know about ALL TOO EASY, he’s overpowered in one way. If you know about it, he’s too weak,” — Rob Daviau, creator of Star Wars Epic Duels, in 2018.
What does this deck do: Wipes the board of minors plus lots of direct damage and one big attack.
“Sith Lord Vader”
Modified deck. Original Epic Duels deck by Rob Daviau and Craig Van Ness. Modifications by Geektopia.
Darth Vader
20 HP
Melee
22 Cards
Red Deck
2x Stormtroopers
4 HP Each
Blaster
9 Cards
Weak Ranged Minor Deck
Vader – 12 Talent Cards
3x WRATH
Choose one character’s players to each take 2 damage.
3x CHOKE
Choose one minor character to take 6 damage.
2x THROW DEBRIS
Choose one character to take 4 damage.
2x DARK SIDE DRAIN
A5. For each point of damage done with this attack, Vader recovers 1 damage.
1x ALL TOO EASY
A9*. *If this attack is not blocked, attack value is 20.
1x YOUR SKILLS ARE NOT COMPLETE
Choose a player to reveal his hand and discard all Special cards.
Why tweak Vader? Because once you know about ALL TOO EASY, he’s too weak. This has been discussed ad nauseum in most places Epic Duels is discussed but mainly, he’s a very weak player in 1v1 and even though he’s much more valuable in 2v2, he still comes up short of our expectations of such a character, especially as a melee fighter. These tweaks make him a much tougher lightsaber combatant and result in a stronger, more fun overall deck.
Tweaks:
Tweak 2x DARK SIDE DRAIN from A3 to A5.
Tweak 1x ALL TOO EASY from A3* to A9*, still 20 damage if not blocked.
No YOUR SKILLS ARE NOT COMPLETE tweak? It’s such a common tweak that it needs to be addressed: A majority of Geektopia doesn’t want to see Vader with that sort of YOU WILL DIE-like control over the game. We like the card the way it is.
Theme: Powerful direct damage dealer with some melee ability
Path to Victory: Combine direct damage cards and finish with ALL TOO EASY
Strengths: High direct damage that gets to opponents anywhere, kills minors anywhere, high HP
Weaknesses: No card drawing power, poor defense, weak minors
Strategy: Throw direct damage from a distance, save your big melee cards for when they close in.
Test Level: Medium
Tier: 2
Notes: This very simple tweak scheme provides Vader with a solid melee game, which we think is more representative of his movie persona, and additional staying power, which he badly needs. Original Vader powers up in a 2v2 game as CHOKE and WRATH have more targets and THROW DEBRIS is a great move to follow up an ally’s attack, but his lack of staying power keeps him among the weaker decks. This tweaked version plays a solid Tier 2 in our experience. This tweak scheme comes after years of replacing half the deck with power combat cards and a powered-up YOUR SKILLS ARE NOT COMPLETE, as we are now choosing instead to return him to his direct damage theme.
Want more Vader?
We know of no other Darth Vader decks at this time.
(pause for laughter)
There is probably no deck or character that has been revised more than Darth Vader. He’s both the story’s most iconic character, and the game’s worst designed deck. You’ll just have to go to the Wiki page to figure out which Vader or tweaks to Vader you like the most. For our group, we just play our Jedi Hunter version 9 times out of 10.
One comment