We've got Nationals coming up in a few weeks and still no word on any change to FN. I'm starting to take into account that FN might be unchanged for the tournament and that we'll see lots of Kylo/FN, since it seems to be THE deck to beat. What do you think are the best decks/strategies for beating it while still being able to face the other contenders? Plz discuss!

PS. Yes, many people don't like FN...we heard you loud and clear, no use yelling about him again, I'm looking for information to improve my game against him and that is what this thread is for, please take that into account in your response.

Most likely there won't be any changes until all nationals are done so they all operate with the same rule set. What you need is a hard argo deck that can do a lot of damage and kill FN turn one. I suggest a kylo/FN deck as it does this best. The other option is control. This may drag out the game but may leave you with no win option. Having cards that resolve your opponents dice for you may be the best bet.

Enrage, Hidden Agenda, Truce into Reversal and It Will All Be Mine is good as is Manipulate, Anger and Threaten. Make that deck's strengths weaknesses. This can be done in a Pig/Kylo/FN deck. If running FN is distasteful then do a Pig/Kylo/Pig deck. You'll get a lot of dice control and can do damage on your own while still having 33 base health and you won't have to change your deck when the ban hammer comes.

2 Player Starter Deck Kylo/Phasma seem to pair together nicely for fast reliable damage too.

eCad/ePhasma2. You can kill FN turn one if you roll just right and don't get slammed with removal. All downhill from there.

You also run Kylo2/FN and hope to draw better than your opponent!

Semi-jokes aside, I don't think you can reliably out-aggro that deck, so you need to do something else instead. Something that mixes consistent damage with repeated and reliable attacks against your opponent's hand might do it - discard those weapons before he has a chance to start the override train. If you win the battlefield, A first turn Abandon All Hope puts him in a precarious position, as does a well-timed Close Quarters Assault that hits for three or so cards. Friends In Low Places is good as well, to try and spot the Boundless Ambition before he plays it. All that being said, I think the only way to really beat Kylo2/FN is to wait until FN gets his nerf.

38 minutes ago, Destraa said:

eCad/ePhasma2. You can kill FN turn one if you roll just right and don't get slammed with removal. All downhill from there.

That's a good deck, but as someone who has played it a lot I have to say it's too roll reliant to reliably win against Kylo2/FN. Don't get me wrong, the deck can be very competitive, but as you said: it needs to roll just right in those opening rounds. If it doesn't, it loses.

Tournament wins require a good and consistent deck. Cad is surely a good character but he won't be winning too many tournaments without a good way to make him consistent.

Play eKylo2/eFN or ePhasma2/eEmoVader on your Nationals. These are the two best aggro decks right now with eKylo2/eFN winning all Nationals so far.

eCad is fine but too dependent on rolls just like eSabine. Both can win but you need more luck involved into it.

9 hours ago, Mep said:

Tournament wins require a good and consistent deck. Cad is surely a good character but he won't be winning too many tournaments without a good way to make him consistent.

I've found Imperial HQ does a lot to help that for the 3/1R sides. It's usually my mulligan target along with Prepare For War, and at least one ambush weapon.

Thrawn/Unkar. Going hard mill is hard to do well . FN helps mill himself. This deck takes a lot of practice to get good with.

Sabine Wren with ambush weapons. This deck is a no brainer, burst damage before it can get mitigated. Take a look at this on Youtube. Thrawn/Unkar is better than Sabine but one misstep can be it's downfall. Sabine pumps out massive damage and can kill a character turn one. Sabine may even be more broken than FN because she gets her ambush weapons from the discard pile. Everyone complained about Rey with her action cheating. Her die kind of sucked so she was a bridge to resolve better characters. Sabine on the other hand has amazing dice and it's literally a race to see if she dies before the opponent's first character dies. The card Running Interference helps you win that race 10 fold.

16 minutes ago, ozmodon said:

Thrawn/Unkar. Going hard mill is hard to do well . FN helps mill himself. This deck takes a lot of practice to get good with.

Sabine Wren with ambush weapons. This deck is a no brainer, burst damage before it can get mitigated. Take a look at this on Youtube. Thrawn/Unkar is better than Sabine but one misstep can be it's downfall. Sabine pumps out massive damage and can kill a character turn one. Sabine may even be more broken than FN because she gets her ambush weapons from the discard pile. Everyone complained about Rey with her action cheating. Her die kind of sucked so she was a bridge to resolve better characters. Sabine on the other hand has amazing dice and it's literally a race to see if she dies before the opponent's first character dies. The card Running Interference helps you win that race 10 fold.

...Sabine/Ezra and Thrawn/Unkar are two of Kylo2/FN's most favorable matchups... To quote you from another thread just yesterday, "do you even play this game?"

2 hours ago, RJM said:

...Sabine/Ezra and Thrawn/Unkar are two of Kylo2/FN's most favorable matchups... To quote you from another thread just yesterday, "do you even play this game?"

Oh I play, not great but I play! Love this game despite some overpowered and poorly thought threw cards. Some cards could use unique status applied to them. This game needs to be fun for all, not just the elite top 10%.

still not as bad as magic (or atleast was when i was in highschool getting into it)
Entire decks countered by 1 persistent card that wasnt even difficult to use but is very difficult to remove.

3 hours ago, ozmodon said:

Oh I play, not great but I play! Love this game despite some overpowered and poorly thought threw cards. Some cards could use unique status applied to them. This game needs to be fun for all, not just the elite top 10%.

It’s fun in casual play any day of the week. Competitive play is an entirely different beast. You’re there to have fun, yes, but also to win. Last big event I attended was X-Wars back in July. Took my well practiced, and fun, eUnkar/DT/Trooper deck, which was an offshoot of a then-meta deck (eUnkar/FN/Trooper). Had a 2-3 Win/Loss record but had a geat time. Sure, getting face melted by Poe/Maz sucked, especially since I had that pairing two matches in a row, but I learned what my weaknesses were since I hadn’t faced Poe/Maz locally.

Just now, Destraa said:

It’s fun in casual play any day of the week. Competitive play is an entirely different beast. You’re there to have fun, yes, but also to win. Last big event I attended was X-Wars back in July. Took my well practiced, and fun, eUnkar/DT/Trooper deck, which was an offshoot of a then-meta deck (eUnkar/FN/Trooper). Had a 2-3 Win/Loss record but had a geat time. Sure, getting face melted by Poe/Maz sucked, especially since I had that pairing two matches in a row, but I learned what my weaknesses were since I hadn’t faced Poe/Maz locally.

I played Thrawn/Unkar vehicle deck and came down to one turn of rolling in a vechile of winning against Sabine. I had a blast and could of pulled out a win if I hadn't screwed up turn one. I was on auto pilot and said 2 to get the ambush cards with Thrawn. Duh, Sabine!

And just like that eKylo(2p) eFN was no more...

FN is kinda dead entirely now.

mixed damage is pretty crap, he was only used for the mass abuse of ambush and replace upgrades for more ambush. Until i learned of that abuse i always thought he was total trash

Apparently you beat it by proclaiming that what is written on the cards isn't actually what the card is...

1 hour ago, Stone37 said:

Apparently you beat it by proclaiming that what is written on the cards isn't actually what the card is...

FN dominated for two major competition seasons due to his low cost and his overwrite cheats. Much like Poe/Maz. I played a lot of FN+Friend(s) during SoR and a bit with EaW, so this is honestly a welcome change knowing how abusive he is. I think the point change with the overwrite change was probably overkill, but with a heavy resource generating deck you were still able to roll out weapons. A lot. The point change prevents eUnkar/eFN decks for that reason alone.

Villians just got f'ed in the a lol

1 hour ago, Plymouthdean86 said:

Villians just got f'ed in the a lol

Not really. Still a lot of good decks out there that will resurface. Emo Twins and Vader+Friend come to mind immediately.

TAKE THAT L FN, TAKE THAT L

3 hours ago, Plymouthdean86 said:

Villians just got f'ed in the a lol

I like the changes, some of my decks will need to be changed, others got a bit better and others worse.

But I feel the changes puts this game more in the camp of it's not what you play but rather how you play it far more than ever before.

6 minutes ago, Amanal said:

I like the changes, some of my decks will need to be changed, others got a bit better and others worse.

But I feel the changes puts this game more in the camp of it's not what you play but rather how you play it far more than ever before.

I’m looking forward to my Jango alt art hitting the table again.

You can still play eKylo/FN, it won't be as good as eKylo/eFN, but it's still a viable option. Only being able to overwrite once per round will hurt a little, but you will still be able to use his ability more than once per round if you play an upgrade and then overwrite it the same turn. Alternatively overwrite an existing upgrade and then deploying a new one. You just won't be able to cycle through an entire hand of upgrades for free anymore.

1 hour ago, Jerrus said:

You can still play eKylo/FN, it won't be as good as eKylo/eFN, but it's still a viable option. Only being able to overwrite once per round will hurt a little, but you will still be able to use his ability more than once per round if you play an upgrade and then overwrite it the same turn. Alternatively overwrite an existing upgrade and then deploying a new one. You just won't be able to cycle through an entire hand of upgrades for free anymore.

And THAT was a good rule change. Doesn't change any print on the cards, just a rules clarification. Changing what a card actually says is always sloppy and confusing. IMHO, I think all the changes (except for the point changes on the characters) were good moves. FFG has got to do a better job of play testing. Fasthands, Vidborkife, and a few characters are just a few examples of how poorly this game is being designed. It has a FANTASTIC system, but it's not the only show in town. (See ASHES: Rise of the Phoenixborn for a better designed LCG game.) This move has caused me to lose all faith in FFG's ability to properly run a CCG.