The Basis of a Competitive Juniors Deck

[Note from Beakman]This article was authored by a regular SW:CCG Junior Tourney player. He was asked to share some of his thoughts on what he feels are the most important things for players to know.

If you have ever been to a Juniors tournament, or have ran one in the past, you know that certain strategys are much better then others when you have 40 cards to work with. You need to think of a deck that doesnt require much work to get off the ground, can either out drain the opponent or slow them down so much that you won't need that much of a drain, and needs to be fundamentally sound. This is very tough to do in Juniors. Even I have a very hard time doing it, as good as I am (Or should I say, once was). Let's start by discussing some of the more deadly decks on the tournament scene

Inserts
These bad boys are bad on the regular scene, but on the Juniors, they are vicious. A quick Odds will remove almost ¼ of your deck, leaving you even more vulnerable to a second odds. You will need several ways to counter this. It Could Be Worse (Watch for It's Worse), Torture, Resistance, Dont Forget The Droids and Ultimatum are good choices. I suggest playing with at least 2 Dont Forget The Droids and 2 It Could Be Worse, or 2 or 3 Tortures. This will ensure that a quick odds isnt the game.

Mains and Toys
Mains and Toys are also a very deadly deck design on the Juniors scene. You have 20 less cards to lose than normal the normal 60, and a 1st or 2nd turn drain of 3 or 4 isnt taken so easily now. The best ways to prevent this are starting With Bad Feeling Have I or playing mains and toys with multiple destiny adders. Things such as Uncontrollable Fury, I Have You Now, The Circle Is Now Complete, Weapon Levitation for both sides and The Force Is Strong With This One are great.

Spies
Spies are a good card, and sometimes underused, but you will encounter a person with a lot of spies and undercovers some time or another. They will block all of your ground drains, most likely draining in space. Sorry About The Mess, Sniper, R-3P0 and Hutt Smooch are all great counters to these. The best in my opinion is Lt. Pol Triedum. If you get him out to block spies, and you draw the right destiny, then you'll have a giant armada vs. Leia, worst case scenario.

Scanning Crew/Manipulator
These are really unfair decks in Juniors. They romp any mains and toys decks and kill of, truthfully, anything. There isnt many ways to counter, possibly 3 or 4 Shocking Informations. This will help kill of Scanning Crews and raise your destiny at the same time. The biggest weakness I can think of has got to be non-unique aliens. Things like Klatooinian Revolvers and Eloms rule against a power 2 ability 4 character.

Dark Side Beatdown
This is the most commonly played dark side on the tournament scene. They are all around decks, normally with the interupts and effects and characters to beat any light side deck. They start with Bad Feeling Have I and have about 2 Tortures, several Monnoks, and several Alters (No Senses, just Alters, Controls and Do Or Do Not [Mainly for killing off Asteroid Sanctuary]). These decks are usually character heavy, but then they lack interupts. The best way to counter is Mantellian Savrip. Savrip is a great card anyway, 2 or 3 should be great. This will make sure you dont lose anything from attrition, keeping your guys there, thus, out battling your opponent, and fighting fire with fire.

Those are all the major deck designs, and I have provided appropiate counters to them in the article. If you play your deck right, build it fundamentally (You can find my guidelines for making a deck at http://members.aol.com/drtorch/master.htmlunder Deck Construction), then you will consistently do better and better in tournaments. If you have any questions, comments, concerns, email me at Dengar2000@aol.com.