sith control

By neill_ramsey, in Star Wars: The Card Game - Strategy

Please find my first attempt at a Sith control deck. I finally figured out what it meant, I'm a slow learner. I thought Sith control was controling just the board and not the force. I am sure this is old hat to veteran players, I am new to the game and loving it. FFG please keep your Star Wars liscence no matter what the cost! Any tips to tweak the deck?

Sith (Core)


Total Objective Sets: (10)

2x Fall of the Jedi (Core)
Darth Vader (Core)
Dark Side Apprentice (Core)
Vader's Lightsaber (Core)
Force Choke (Core)
Heat of Battle (Core)

2x Counsel of the Sith (Core)
Advisor to the Emperor (Core)
Kuati Security Team (Core)
Sith Library (Core)
Dark Precognition (Core)
Twist of Fate (Core)

2x The Emperor's Web (Core)
Emperor Palpatine (Core)
Emperor's Royal Guard (Core)
Sith Library (Core)
Force Lightning (Core)
Force Choke (Core)

2x Reconnaissance Mission (Core)
Human Replica Droid (Core)
Human Replica Droid (Core)
Heat of Battle (Core)
Target of Opportunity (Core)
Twist of Fate (Core)

2x Serve the Emperor (A Dark Time)
Prophet of the Dark Side (A Dark Time)
Prophet of the Dark Side (A Dark Time)
Anzati Elite (A Dark Time)
Anger (A Dark Time)
Force Push (A Dark Time)

Sith (Core)


Total Objective Sets: (10)

2x Fall of the Jedi (Core)
Darth Vader (Core)
Dark Side Apprentice (Core)
Vader's Lightsaber (Core)
Force Choke (Core)
Heat of Battle (Core)

2x Counsel of the Sith (Core)
Advisor to the Emperor (Core)
Kuati Security Team (Core)
Sith Library (Core)
Dark Precognition (Core)
Twist of Fate (Core)

2x The Emperor's Web (Core)
Emperor Palpatine (Core)
Emperor's Royal Guard (Core)
Sith Library (Core)
Force Lightning (Core)
Force Choke (Core)

2x Reconnaissance Mission (Core)
Human Replica Droid (Core)
Human Replica Droid (Core)
Heat of Battle (Core)
Target of Opportunity (Core)
Twist of Fate (Core)

2x Serve the Emperor (A Dark Time)
Prophet of the Dark Side (A Dark Time)
Prophet of the Dark Side (A Dark Time)
Anzati Elite (A Dark Time)
Anger (A Dark Time)
Force Push (A Dark Time)

No 2x Recon Mission allowed. Suggest something else, maybe a 3rd Vader's Pod. burla

As mentioned, only one copy of Reconnaissance Mission allowed. I'd replace the extra with Cruel Interrogations. I'd also go with some combination of Shadows of Dathomir, Imperial Command, and Death and Despayre in place of Serve the Emperor. I personally run either 2x Shadows or 1x each of Shadows and Imperial Command, but versions running Devastator are also pretty popular. If you check the staff articles on Top Tier Gaming (link in my signature), I recently did a breakdown of the various strengths and weaknesses of Sith control decks.

Serve the Emperor isn't worth playing. I'd suggest splashing some Navy.

how is this revision?

Sith (Core)


Total Objective Sets: (10)

3x Fall of the Jedi (Core)
Darth Vader (Core)
Dark Side Apprentice (Core)
Vader's Lightsaber (Core)
Force Choke (Core)
Heat of Battle (Core)

2x Counsel of the Sith (Core)
Advisor to the Emperor (Core)
Kuati Security Team (Core)
Sith Library (Core)
Dark Precognition (Core)
Twist of Fate (Core)

2x The Emperor's Web (Core)
Emperor Palpatine (Core)
Emperor's Royal Guard (Core)
Sith Library (Core)
Force Lightning (Core)
Force Choke (Core)

1x Shadows of Dathomir (Core)
Nightsister (Core)
Nightsister (Core)
Rancor (Core)
The Hand's Blessing (Core)
A Disturbance In the Force (Core)

1x Reconnaissance Mission (Core)
Human Replica Droid (Core)
Human Replica Droid (Core)
Heat of Battle (Core)
Target of Opportunity (Core)
Twist of Fate (Core)

1x The Killing Cold (The Desolation of Hoth)
Icetromper (The Desolation of Hoth)
Icetromper (The Desolation of Hoth)
Fear (The Desolation of Hoth)
The Desolation of Hoth (The Desolation of Hoth)
Twist of Fate (The Desolation of Hoth)

You can't have 3 Fall of the Jedi. Max of 2 for all objective sets unless limit of 1 on the card.

I would take out Shadows of Dathomir too.

I traded shadows of Dathamar for cruel interrogations, any better?

Sith (Core)


Total Objective Sets: (10)

2x Fall of the Jedi (Core)
Darth Vader (Core)
Dark Side Apprentice (Core)
Vader's Lightsaber (Core)
Force Choke (Core)
Heat of Battle (Core)

2x Counsel of the Sith (Core)
Advisor to the Emperor (Core)
Kuati Security Team (Core)
Sith Library (Core)
Dark Precognition (Core)
Twist of Fate (Core)

2x The Emperor's Web (Core)
Emperor Palpatine (Core)
Emperor's Royal Guard (Core)
Sith Library (Core)
Force Lightning (Core)
Force Choke (Core)

1x Cruel Interrogations (Core)
Interrogation Droid (Core)
Interrogation Droid (Core)
ISB Interrogators (Core)
Intimidated (Core)
Interrogation (Core)

1x Reconnaissance Mission (Core)
Human Replica Droid (Core)
Human Replica Droid (Core)
Heat of Battle (Core)
Target of Opportunity (Core)
Twist of Fate (Core)

2x The Killing Cold (The Desolation of Hoth)
Icetromper (The Desolation of Hoth)
Icetromper (The Desolation of Hoth)
Fear (The Desolation of Hoth)
The Desolation of Hoth (The Desolation of Hoth)
Twist of Fate (The Desolation of Hoth)

Looks good to me. Maybe play with 2 Cruel and 1 Killing Cold

That's almost the deck that I play with, though I don't use Killing Cold but instead use either 2x Dathomir (it's better than people give it credit for, and Hand's Blessing can be huge against the Jedi tactics decks floating around) or 1x Dathomir 1x Imperial Command.

I think Dathomir is a better fit card play wise and thematically. Killing cold is just there for Icethrompers, as I really like their ability. I like the sisters commiting to the force though.

Serve the Emperor isn't worth playing. I'd suggest splashing some Navy.

It gives you card draw/deck thinning and Anzati Elite is great, not to mention it makes it easier to keep balance of the force to the dark side, which alone make it worthy. If you play The Heart of the Empire you can also keep it safe with the Coruscant Defence Fleet.

Cruel Interrogations is another way to add more control as it discards and adds tactics tokens, plus you get one more event (and a great one) to play through Vader's damage trugger. I don't particularly like The Killing Cold. The Icetromper is good, but conditional.

I actually have also long enjoyed playing Serve the Emperor. But only as a one-of. In duplicate it seems you just clog up your hand with situational cards. As a one-of I enjoy having the option of Anzati Elite in combat or in edge, force push and the thinning. I've actually never used Anger (maybe once) but at least it has 2 force icons. Clearly the strongest thing about the set is the objective ability itself. Not having to commit a unit the first turn actually helps significantly with your defensive wall. Of the core sith objectives you can get in your flop the only one I would rather see is Counsel of the Sith.

I feel similarly about Ghosts of the Dark Side. Force Wraiths are good for edge, although they occasionally get played to help blow up an objective. Dark Memories does wonderfully horrible things to mains and Force Shockwave can pack a significant punch. But I don't want to be flooded with Dark Memories and Force Wraiths, so I think it's also a one of.

This has actually been my complaint with LS deck construction. It feels like DS has lots of great options for one-ofs. Some of them forced like Sabotage in the Snow, others arising naturally because they have good cards but not cards you want to see too many of like Deploy the Fleet. --I know there are builds out their sporting two Deploy the Fleets, but most of the time it was played in Sith Control as a one-of. The fact that there are these one-ofs for DS creates interesting decisions for how you're going to fill in the last slot of a deck. I know this should also hold true for LS, but it doesn't. Almost every LS deck we see played is a 5 x2 build. Part of this may come from players not experimenting with wild cards, but at the same time we haven't been incentivized with any awesome limit-one-per-deck LS objectives. Or is Alderaan's Promise "bonkers-good"?

At any rate I happen to like the Serve the Emperor and Ghosts of the Dark Side objectives and the tricks they offer you. I'm currently experimenting with:

2x Emperor

2x Vader

2x Counsel

1x Serve the Emperor

1x Ghosts of the Dark Side

2x Motti

Ghosts of the Darkside has been really good the times I've tested with it. Especially if dark memories can kill a unit before it fully resolves it's strike like a post in the rules forum says.