Minor(s): 2 First Order Troopers

What does this deck do:  Forces you to discard.  Duels with offense and defense.

Updated 4/26/16
Uses the FORCE RESTRAIN idea by Freaky Mutant Man and the mechanic behind FOCUSED RAGE is from Mike Maloney.

Kylo Ren
by Roman F and Geektopia

Kylo Ren
18 HP
Red Deck
22 cards

2 1st Order Troopers
Weak Ranged Minor Deck
9 cards

Kylo Ren – 12 Talent Cards

3x Unstable Blade
A7. After attacking, you and opponent each chooses and discards a card.

2x Dark Surge
A6. After attacking, move Kylo Ren up to 6 spaces.

1x Focused Rage
A11*. *Subtract 1 for each card in your opponent’s hand after playing any defense card.

2x Force Freeze
D5*. *If the attacker uses a blaster, defense value is 10.

2x Force Restrain
Turn a character adjacent to Kylo on its side. That character cannot move, defend or attack until any player discards 3 cards to stand it up.

2x Mind Probe
Choose an opponent. That opponent reveals 3 cards and discards one, then your opponent discards one of the hidden cards at random.

Figures: I bought a Star Wars Monopoly game for $25, and you can still get one for under $30. It comes with a nice figure for Finn and a decent one for Kylo. They are a little large for Epic Duels, but no one has ever complained.

Vassal X-Y:  1300, 2400, in a spot previously held by Moff Gideon, part of the late 2022 X-Y shakeup.

Notes: I think this version is pretty close to final.  It’s a deck with some dark side nastiness to it, and a clear path to victory not quite like what any other original or Geektopia deck has going. This version would play strong in 1v1, but is deceptively weak in 2v2. I think it will grade out in the Tier 2C range, it would be 2B at best.

The deck has a bag of 7 forced discarding cards, 5 of which require adjacency of Kylo to the opponent. Freaky Mutant Man’s FORCE RESTRAIN really works in Geektopia because our Yoda’s FORCE LIFT has been tweaked, so this effect is actually unique to Kylo Ren in Geektopia, and it’s appropriately a tad weaker than the version our Yoda currently uses. An 8th card is the big attack that plays off the discarding, an old idea I got from one of Mike Maloney’s decks. It brings this dark sided deck together in a move reminiscent of Kylo’s defining moment in Ep VII.

Yet, the deck actually revolves around getting the 4 support cards that don’t cause discarding, the 2 hit-and-run DARK SURGE and the 2 FORCE FREEZE power defense cards. Kylo has to get in there to do his damage and then needs to either be able to run away, or defend, and only has a Red deck to go with 18 HP. Without at least 2 of those 4 cards, he’ll struggle to do much before getting killed, but rest assured he will pretty much always force opponents to discard every game. Kylo is really good at bashing weaklings and ranged attackers, but he’ll struggle against Jedi types with big attacks. He also completely lacks card drawing power to reflect his low overall power level.

Strengths:

– With a lot of offensive capabilities, this is a character that can typically DO something at pretty much all times.

– Heavy discarding capability. Kylo will win some games through crippling characters via massive discarding, and even when he loses, he’s going to leave his enemies with fewer cards almost always. FORCE RESTRAIN is particularly nasty but he can use MIND PROBE on anyone, any time. As with the above, he’s not going out without doing something.

– Strong attacks with 3x A7 and a possible A11 to go along with the 4x A5s of the Red deck. Kylo can dish it out.

– When he gets both power defense cards and a decent mix of basics, he has solid staying power along with his 18 HP.

Weaknesses:

– Those A7s are nasty but also tricky to play, as you have to discard your own card to play it. Early in the game, that tends to be a fairly high price, the good news is you have the kind of weak minors to have cards you can get away with discarding, your opponent might not. If you can use your other forced discarding cards early in the game, you can play these later on when the Stormtroopers are dead, but then again your opponent might be in a similar position.

– Lacks movement. He really needs to draw his 2x hit-and-run cards to get something going and would benefit greatly from a third movement card, but I can’t find a slot for it. We could give him 3x of these and 2x UNSTABLE BLADE, but that would make him a lot stronger in my opinion.

– Staying power is poor unless he gets at least one power defense, even then he struggles against melee attackers with big attacks.

– Kylo’s attack power is actually nothing special. This works because his heavy forced discarding tends to limit or even eliminate his opponent’s defense. He has a FORCE LIFT type of card that can sometimes let his attacks through unblocked. Therefore he’s only got 3x A7s and a bunch of A5s, steady but not spectacular. He has the one potential A11 obviously, but with only one in the deck, there’s no saying if you’ll get it, let alone how effective it will be.

– No card drawing. He does force discarding but doesn’t draw cards of his own, and you’ll feel it as the game goes on against characters who do, like Rey.

Vassal X-Y:  1300, 2400, in a spot previously held by Moff Gideon, part of the late 2022 X-Y shakeup.  Repeated in case you missed it the first time, because it can mess things up.

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