Recently came across an interesting scenario, which seems a bit too powerful and would like some input.

DS playing Killing Cold, Tagge is on the board, as well as Imperial Discipline. Espo trooper is sacrificed, enabling the Killing Cold text to wipe off an objective damage. Because Tagge is on the board, the Espo returns to hand. Since espo's play for free, repeat ad inifinitum to remove any amount of damage from any Hoth objectives. Plus, the Imperial Discipline means the other player deals up to 3 damage (or 6 if 2 Imperial Disciplines are out) to his own objectives.

This all seemed WAY to powerful to us, and yet we couldn't reason why it wouldn't work as written.

Any thoughts?? Are we missing something??

Well, you can't do it ad infinitum, as the Killing Cold's action requires a Hoth objective to be damaged (you can't just sac a unit if you aren't healing something). Thus, at most you're going to be able to do the loop around 12 times (assuming four Hoth objectives each with four damage). Even so, it is powerful. But in practice, you're not likely to get that much bang for your buck.

Well, yes, I didn't literally mean infinitely . . but it does wipe off all damage to all Hoth objectives with zero resource expeditures - and this could occur EVERY TURN

But you have to have all the various pieces set up, which isn't a given. And to be honest, I don't know how effective a deck based around Espos, Tagge and Killing Cold will be. There are plenty of ways for the LS to deal with a single unit, even if it never gets into a conflict.

There's a LS infinite loop that can theoretically focus down the DS board every turn, but the objectives required to make it work lead to a really lackluster deck overall.

Personally, if you can put together a solid Tagge/Espo/Killing Cold deck, I'll be pleased as punch. I'm a big fan of troopers, and the more good trooper decks out there the better, in my opinion.

Well, let's see what we've got to work with.

The deck wants 2x Family Connections, 2x The Killing Cold, and 1x Corporate Exploitation for the combo. We probably want the rest of the deck to be Hoth objectives to maximize the chances that the combo becomes live. Sticking to our colors, that leaves us with

- Vader's Fist

- A Dark Time for the Rebellion

- The General's Imperative

- Unstoppable Advance (requires Navy affiliation)

- The Admiral's Assault

- Shadows on the Ice

- Sabotage in the Snow

We can rule out Unstoppable Advance entirely, since we're going to want Sith to be our affiliation card.

I think Vader's Fist is easily the best of those objectives, offering a solid set of troopers, a useful enhancement, and a Battle of Hoth (which can be used to voluntarily damage your own Hoth objectives, if necessary). Furthermore, it has a potent "when undamaged" effect that will encourage the opponent to put damage on it. Unfortunately, running any copies of Vader's Fist runs the risk of opening a zero-Navy start (though with 1 copy, that risk is almost negligible).

After that, The General's Imperative has Veers, himself another Trooper lord, the Blizzard Force AT-STs, another Battle of Hoth, and another powerful "when undamaged" ability...alongside the very situational Turbolaser battery. With Veers, Sabotage in the Snow is cute, but has the same problems as Vader's Fist, and I'd much rather have a single Vader's Fist than Sabotage in the Snow. Shadows on the Ice is right out, so I guess that leaves The Admiral's Assault. Fortunately, The Admiral's Assault looks fairly solid - Piett can get extra value out of your fate cards on the off chance you can play him (possible using Veers as a resource), Hoth Reinforcements is a self-recurring Trooper, and you get the three fate cards this deck wants most. Oh, and the objective itself can recover a fate card.

So I guess Vicious Cycle.dek would look something like this.

Affiliation: Sith

2x The Killing Cold

1x Vader's Fist

2x The General's Imperative

2x The Admiral's Assault

2x Family Connections

1x Corporate Exploitation

If you were willing to gamble a little, you could even drop the second copy of The Admiral's Assault for a second Vader's Fist. But I think this looks like it could be fun.

eh, not all LS decks win by objectives.

I run that combo and I love it. I've gotten it set up fairly consistently. Imperial Discipline is not needed to make it happen, but it becomes even more devastating when you've got it out.

Thing is, the deck is highly dependent on The Killing Cold being on the table, and that's never a given.

eh, not all LS decks win by objectives.

If they're not planning on damaging your objectives, then Vader's Fist and The General's Imperative will be always on, and you can just go all-out aggro. Trench Run decks win by forcing a Dark Side deck that wants to control to become aggressive, and troopers are an aggressive strategy to begin with.

I run that combo and I love it. I've gotten it set up fairly consistently. Imperial Discipline is not needed to make it happen, but it becomes even more devastating when you've got it out.

Thing is, the deck is highly dependent on The Killing Cold being on the table, and that's never a given.

No, but you have a 2/3 chance of seeing it in your opening flip. That's not bad odds.

I think it's safe to say that MacRauri knows exactly how Trench Run decks work

Actually, Veers' set brings an interesting counter to Trench run, since the Turbolaser Battery is the only card that can wipe a trench run, as far as I know.

Yup it's a thing that can happen now. Outside of that though the deck is pretty meh. Also, the last time I played my version, my Killing Cold got blanked lol. Most light decks have some way of killing Tagge as well.

The main issue I see with this deck is the lack of resources. Most of the time you'll be relying only on your objectives, which will make bringing out the three cost units awkward. While you get a fantastic objective effect from Vader's Fist, I really like Sabotage in the Snow for the resources, additional troopers and synergy with the shields the deck is playing with. Although I don't think a pair of resources are going to solve the deck's problems.

This is my build:

2x Family Connections

2x The Killing Cold

2x Vader's Fist

2x The Executor Arrives

2x The Emperor's Web

1x Corporate Exploitation

I included Emperor's Web because I felt I needed tactics and resources, but I found that having the Royal Guards to protect Tagge is massive (especially against targeted strike). The Lightning and Choke don't hurt, either.

The Executor Arrives fits in well since I gives me even more benefits when I sacrifice cards with The Killing Cold. Aggression is awesome, and if I do not have the resources to play them, I use Executor and Palpatine as edge cards.

I have played this deck about 5 or 6 times mainly against Jedi and lost only one close game.

I decided to try a Killing Cold, Tagge, espo trooper deck at our SC today. The combination can be very powerful if LS can't find a way to get Tagge off the board. I got to live the dream a couple times, but if the deck doesn't start Killing Cold it has some serious difficulty.