Some version of this deck has been around for as long as all but the very first few decks, and it has always seen action and been fun. It changed many times but this version was selected for the 10-Year Anniversary Custom set and is deemed final.
What does this deck do: Puts 2 tough, offensively fearsome droids on the board with a sneaky commander behind them. Makes you laugh.
NUTE GUNRAY & DROIDEKAS
by Roman F & Geektopia. SWED Fan contributed to this design.
Nute Gunray
12 HP
Blaster
17 cards
Yellow Deck
2 Droidekas
7 HP each
Blaster
14 cards
Strong++ Ranged Minor Deck
Nute – 7 Talent Cards
3x SHOOT HER OR SOMETHING
Choose a character that Nute or either Droideka can attack. That character takes 3 damage.
2x THIS IS TOO CLOSE!
A5. After attacking, move Nute to any vacant space.
1x WHERE ARE THOSE DROIDEKAS?
Put a destroyed Droideka back on the board, at full hit points, adjacent to Nute.
1x BEG FOR MERCY
D* Nute takes no damage from the attack. Discard all your cards but one.
Droidekas – 5 Talent Cards
3x NO MATCH FOR DROIDEKAS
A4. If the Droidekas are adjacent to each other, attack value is 7.
2x TUCK AND ROLL
A5. Attacking Droideka may move up to 5 spaces before attacking by playing this card face up.
Theme: Weakling major with big thug minors
Path to Victory: Any combination of TUCK AND ROLL, SHOOT HER OR SOMETHING, and NO MATCH FOR DROIDEKAS
Strengths: High attacks, direct damage, potentially high overall staying power, can resurrect a minor, very strong minors
Weaknesses: Weakling major with low HP and low attack power
Strategy: Line up your Droidekas and win the fire fight
Test Level: Medium
Tier: 2
Inspiration: Mostly, we just liked the Nute and Droidekas figures from The Queen’s Gambit and looked around at some decks out there to get some ideas. There is no question that Nute is a major villain throughout Episodes I-III and his Droidekas are formidable, even against Jedi. We borg’d the reinforcement card from Sultan’s Wat Tambor deck and BEG FOR MERCY from PD’s deck. This deck was reworked as part of the 10YA Anniversary Custom Set (offsite link), with Nute given the majority of cards like all other majors. The Droideka minors break some rules of Epic Duels with their 7 HP each and having their own set of talent cards, but it was widely agreed that if any minors would break these rules, it’s Droidekas.
Playing Nute: This version of the deck is actually pretty nasty. The Droidekas are capable of doing heavy damage along with soaking it up, especially if Nute is able to resurrect one. Nute himself is no slouch, with solid direct damage and hit-and-run, but he needs to stay in the background because he’s as frail as they get.
Playing against Nute: The Droidekas only need to be adjacent to each other to do big damage, so you need to take one down as soon as you can. Once you do, you can concentrate on the frail Nute, who can do a surprising amount of damage, plus he’s got some escape cards, a big defense card and the card that resurrects a Droideka at full health.
Want more Nute?
We actually have an old one with even more powerful Droidekas, and an even weaker Nute.
Robert Moore has an interesting Nute with 2 Droidekas and 2 Super Battle Droids.
Brady Severns, one of the original custom deck makers, has an old deck with 2 Viceroys and 2 Droidekas.
Which Nute Gunray deck is your favorite?
Nute was just updated with the revised version that was part of the 10-Year Anniversary Set.
Pretty solid deck, one of our guys loves to play Nute 😀
I feel like he plays a tad on the strong side, what do you think? Do you see him lose often enough?