Poe/Maz, Public Enemy Number One?

Poe/Maz, Public Enemy Number One?

Ritchie McAlley

Right now this is the deck no one wants to play against, the deck that a lot of people talk about being the best and the comment I come across the most in response to our tournament reports;

"I guess no one was playing Poe/Maz then"

I recently started testing this deck on TTS in my build up to the the upcoming European Championships (because yes we are missing this in our local meta) and wanted to get my head around what looked like a fantastic deck.

Here is the list I have been playing 

Not a deck I designed myself, I just grabbed the first list I liked the look of, that had all the cards in I felt should be present.

First though, Maz Kanata!

 

What a card! Anyone who has followed my articles in the past will know I was a big hero player in Awakenings and being extremely jealous of Villains cheap Yellow Character Bala-Tik I could not wait to play Maz. This deck is a brilliant home for her, just looking at her and Poe together shows you can roll Poe in hoping to get those Special sides but if not, follow up with activating Maz using her ability to resolve 2 dice after she activates all you need is one of her 2 focus sides on the four dice you are rolling and you can resolve a Poe Special.

If only that was were it ended she gives you access to a selection of yellow cards that the deck could not do without.


  

Cunning allows us to resolve even more Poe Dameron specials in a turn now but with only 5 cards in your hand that's not really the point, it more importantly increases the number of dice that can use Poe's ability making it harder to remove all the dice.

Unsurprisingly a free upgrade that lets you cheat the action phase is good and this deck really highlights it. A strong character dice doing even more than say a Vader 3 Melee in a deck that plays pretty much no upgrades on Poe, so Fast Hands does not take up any of your valuable upgrade slots on your character is one of the core arguments to a need for balancing this card out. All we need to do is stick one on Poe, roll him in and resolve those special or Ranged damage sides, it also allows Maz to do even more dice resolving Shenanigans. Overall a great card on both your characters and something you want to see in your opening hand.

 

 

Is there a more powerful Battlefield interaction than claiming Emperor's Throne Room into Poe's special? I certainly don't think so. Having Hyperspace Jump is not only a fantastic get out of jail free card but lets you get your battlefield back into use as no one in their right mind is letting you have it if you lose the roll off! Yellow also gives you access to Electroshock and many other options you may like to explore depending on your meta or how the wider tournament meta shapes up. The final and most important thing to consider here is the fact that yellow gives you huge upgrades and supports which will nearly always be your main win conditions.

 

Now we have Spirit of the Rebellion the amount of upgrades and supports with sides big enough to support Poe, above we have 6 upgrades and supports with nearly all having a side that can put 4 or even more damage out on your opponents characters. 

The final card that really needs talking about is another new one that is considerably different to cards we have seen before and pushes the new lease of life supports have in SOR.

The card that (until the errata) was ready to give the Hyperloop combo a win condition to take it to the next level. We still see this beauty finding a home in this deck as one of the few cards I spend my resources on to actually stay in play, but the rewards are so worth it. This deck finishes it's turn insanely quick so claiming is nearly always on the cards for you, but its not just that. The effect this has on your opponent's turn is huge by forcing them onto the clock to win, their play is accelerated even more when you land this card. It opens you up to whole new lines of play you wont have seen before in a game of Destiny.

The deck is rounded out with a suite of cards designed to keep Poe alive just that little bit longer by giving him shields and removing your opponent's dice. You don't need to buy yourself much time with a hyper aggro deck like this, particularly if you can land a Planetary Uprising to close the game out. 

I could talk though all sorts of dream situations and turns with you where I put out 8-10 damage turn 1, but we could do the same for many decks we see currently in the tournament scene. The difference here is it takes so little to put all the main beats together as 1 dice is doing 4+ damage here and we need no upgrades. Only 2 of your dice need that glorious 1 in 6 chance, backed up by all Maz's focus and your battlefield leading to an incredibly consistent deck. 

How this deck fits into the meta is what I am working hard to figure out right now. It very clearly has a lot going for it, operating so much quicker than pretty much everyone else. U-Wing and Thermal Detonator punish 3-4 character builds so badly that I can't see how they can keep up. Can this deck burst though Second Chances? I am not so confident about that and think it could be weak to Second Chance in a damage shell and certainly a Mill deck focused on hand disruption. The one deck I have personally found to beat this list pretty regular is Elite Palpatine, that deck needs even less than this deck to go right for him to do a ton of damage and his 15 health vs Poe's 12 seem to make him favourable in the match-up. 

If your heading to the European Championships, US Nationals or your local Store Championship keep this character line up in mind as you're making your choice on what deck to play. Who knows, you could be the next tournament winner, with a string of broken opponents lying broken at the feet of Poe and Maz. 

We have our own store Championships coming up May 27th you can get your tickets here and check out our singles for the last cards you need!

Thanks for reading

Team JustPlay

 

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